System and method for on-line diagnostics

ABSTRACT

An on-line diagnostics system and method enable equipment information stored in each piece of industrial equipment to be safely disclosed to maintenance personnel to the extent permitted by the user of the industrial equipment. The on-line diagnostics system comprises industrial equipment and a maintenance apparatus for the maintenance of the industrial equipment, which are connected via the Internet. Equipment information indicating the state of the industrial equipment is encrypted using a specific common key, and the encrypted equipment information is transmitted to the maintenance apparatus in response to a request therefrom. The fact that the common key has been transmitted from the industrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus is outputted. After receiving the encrypted equipment information and the common key that have been transmitted, the encrypted equipment information is decrypted using the common key, and the decrypted equipment information is outputted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system and method for on-linediagnostics of industrial equipment.

2. Background Art

Industrial equipment, such as manufacturing apparatus, inspectionapparatus, and analysis apparatus, is delivered to clients viaindustrial-equipment suppliers (to be hereafter referred to as equipmentsupplier/vendors) after it is manufactured by manufactures. Maintenanceof such equipment after delivery is indispensable in order to maintainits performance.

Conventionally, industrial equipment, such as those mentioned above, isconnected to a maintenance center of an equipment supplier/vendor viathe Internet, so that the industrial equipment can be maintainedremotely from the maintenance center. JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No.11-15520 A (1999) proposes an on-line diagnostics system using theInternet. The system allows industrial equipment to be maintained nomatter where it is located.

Items of industrial equipment with a built-in computer can storeequipment information about the history of their use on an individualitem basis. Such equipment information is very valuable from theviewpoint of maintenance, for it can be used in determining the cause oftroubles. For instance, if one can refer to equipment information thatindicates what kind of program was run and when it was run, how thestate of each part of the industrial equipment transitioned, and whatprocessing results were obtained, one can expect to be able to determinewhether the cause of a trouble is in the contents of the program, in thesequence of execution of the program, or in a particular location of anapparatus, or whether the processing results are desirable.

However, equipment information has rarely been disclosed to maintenancepersonnel at the maintenance center via the Internet, which a thirdparty can readily access, because in many cases equipment informationincludes confidential information about the manufacturing plan ofproducts manufactured by the industrial equipment or the products'specifications. As a result, it has been often difficult to cope withtroubles quickly.

Accordingly, how to manage equipment information safely and utilize itfor maintenance in Internet-based on-line diagnostics systems has beenan important issue. However, the on-line diagnostics system disclosed inabove-mentioned JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 11-15520 does notaddress the question of how to utilize equipment information in anactive manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an on-line diagnosticssystem and method whereby equipment information stored in each item ofindustrial equipment can be disclosed to maintenance personnel safely tothe extent permitted by the user of the industrial equipment.

In one aspect, the invention provides an on-line diagnostics method forindustrial equipment to which a maintenance apparatus is connected forthe maintenance thereof via the Internet, the method comprising thesteps of:

encrypting equipment information indicating the state of the industrialequipment using a specific common key;

transmitting the encrypted equipment information to the maintenanceapparatus in response to a request therefrom;

outputting the fact that the common key has been transmitted from theindustrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus;

receiving the encrypted equipment information and the common key thathave been transmitted;

decrypting the encrypted equipment information using the common key; and

outputting the decrypted equipment information.

In another aspect, the invention provides an on-line diagnostics systemcomprising industrial equipment and a maintenance apparatus for themaintenance of the industrial equipment, which are connected via theInternet, wherein

the industrial equipment comprises an encryption unit, a communicationunit, and an input/output unit, wherein the encryption unit encryptsequipment information indicating the state of the industrial equipmentusing a specific common key, the communication unit transmits theencrypted equipment information encrypted by the encryption unit to themaintenance apparatus in response to a request therefrom, and theinput/output unit outputs the fact that the common key has beentransmitted from the industrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus,and wherein

the maintenance apparatus comprises a communication unit, a decryptionunit, and an input/output unit, wherein the communication unit receivesthe encrypted equipment information and the common key that have beentransmitted from the communication unit of the industrial equipment, thedecryption unit decrypts the encrypted equipment information using thecommon key, and the input/output unit outputs the equipment informationdecrypted by the decryption unit.

Preferably, a countervalue for the contents of maintenance carried outby a maintenance apparatus on industrial equipment based on equipmentinformation is calculated and transmitted

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system according to a first embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of an encrypted equipment data package.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of a common-key managing table.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a maintenance personnel attribute managingtable.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of an analysis-state managing table.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of a program execution-history managingtable.

FIG. 8 shows the structure of an execution authority managing table, aprogram execution-history managing table, and a sensor-state historymanaging table.

FIG. 9 shows the structure of a knowledge managing table.

FIG. 10 shows the structure of message data transmitted and receivedbetween semiconductor manufacture/semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment and a maintenance apparatus.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of the operation of the maintenance apparatuswhen transmitting and receiving an analysis start notice and an analysisstart response.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the operation of a communication unit ofsemiconductor manufacture/semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipmentwhen transmitting and receiving an analysis start notice and an analysisstart response.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of the operation of the maintenance apparatuswhen transmitting an analysis operation notice.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of the operation of a communication unit ofsemiconductor manufacture/semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipmentwhen receiving the analysis operation notice.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of the operation of the maintenance apparatuswhen transmitting an analysis completion notice.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of the operation of the communication unit ofthe semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment when receiving theanalysis completion notice.

FIG. 17 shows an analysis work window displayed on the maintenanceapparatus.

FIG. 18 shows an analysis result output window displayed on thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.

FIG. 19 shows a block diagram of a managing apparatus installed in amanufacturing factory.

FIG. 20 shows a system block diagram of a third embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 21 shows the structure of maintenance request data transmitted andreceived between the managing apparatus installed in the semiconductormanufacturing factory and a maintenance apparatus at a maintenancecenter.

FIG. 22 shows the structure of an analysis-state managing table.

FIG. 23 shows a flowchart of the operation of a communication unit ofthe semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment when receiving amaintenance request.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A first embodiment of the invention will be hereafter described. Theembodiment is an on-line diagnostics system for semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment. The system allows equipmentinformation stored in each item of industrial equipment to be disclosedto maintenance personnel safely to the extent permitted by the user ofthe industrial equipment. The industrial equipment to which theinvention can be applied is not particularly limited as long as it has acomputer built inside. In the following description of the embodiment,however, the term industrial equipment refers to various apparatus andsystems used in semiconductor manufacture, such as, for example, opticalaligners, coaters, thermal oxidation furnaces, assembling apparatus, andinspection apparatus. These apparatus and systems will be hereaftergenerally referred to as semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.The equipment information that can be handled by the invention is notparticularly limited, as long as it refers to data that indicates thestate of industrial equipment. However, in the description of theembodiment, the term equipment information refers to programs, programexecution history, sensor-state history, and wafer processing results.In the following, data concerning these items of information will begenerally referred to as equipment data.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example of the on-line diagnosticssystem for semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment according tothe invention. Numeral 110 designates a maintenance center belonging toa semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment supplier (“equipmentsupplier/vendor”). Numeral 120 designates a manufacturing factorybelonging to a semiconductor device manufacturer (“semiconductormanufacturer”) that employs the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment. While FIG. 1 shows two manufacturing factories 120, there maybe in practice more than two manufacturing factories 120. Themanufacturing factories 120 may belong to different semiconductormanufacturers or to a single semiconductor manufacturer.

The maintenance center 110 includes one or more maintenance apparatus113 for the maintenance of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment, and a managing apparatus 112 for managing communication withthe maintenance center 110. Each maintenance apparatus 113 and themanaging apparatus 112 are connected via an intranet 111.

The maintenance center 110 includes one or more pieces of semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 for manufacturing semiconductordevices, and a managing apparatus 122 for managing communication withthe manufacturing factory 120. Each piece of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 and the managing apparatus 122 areconnected via an intranet 121. The managing apparatus 112 provided inthe maintenance center 110 is connected via the Internet 100 to themanaging apparatus 122 provided in each manufacturing factory 120.

While in the example of FIG. 1 each apparatus employs a computer, asingle apparatus may be comprised of a plurality of computers, or,alternatively, a plurality of apparatus may be comprised of a singlecomputer. Each of these computers includes a central processing unit(“CPU”), a main memory unit (“memory”), an auxiliary memory unitcomprised of a fixed memory medium, such as a hard disc, anotherauxiliary memory unit comprised of a portable memory medium, such as acompact disc or a magneto-optical disc, an input unit such as a keyboardor a mouse, and an output unit such as a display unit.

A maintenance worker at the maintenance center 110 remotely carries outthe maintenance of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment123 using the maintenance apparatus 113 at the maintenance center 110.Upon reception of a message (“maintenance request”) requestingmaintenance from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123where a trouble took place, the maintenance apparatus 113 outputs thedata stored in the maintenance request to the output unit.

The data stored in a maintenance request includes an equipment IDidentifying the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment, and anerror code indicating the nature of the trouble. The data received bythe output unit is utilized by the maintenance worker in determiningwhether or not the trouble must be dealt with online. Examples of datathat may be stored in a maintenance request include the date ofoccurrence of trouble, data identifying the semiconductor manufacturingfactory, and data indicating the type of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment.

The maintenance apparatus 113 also has the function of transmitting amessage (“maintenance operation”) in which a program ID identifying aprogram and parameters to be given to the program are stored to thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which amaintenance request has been received. There are two kinds ofmaintenance operation, namely a reading operation and a solvingoperation. In a reading operation, the program ID identifies a programfor reading equipment data. In a solving operation, the program IDidentifies a program for generating, editing, or deleting programscarried in the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment, a programfor generating, editing, or deleting management data, or a program fortesting the operation of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment. In the following description, programs for reading equipmentdata are referred to as reading programs and other programs are referredto as solving programs.

Upon reception of a message (“maintenance operation response”)transmitted from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123in response to the maintenance operation, the maintenance apparatus 113stores the data stored in the maintenance operation response in a filein the external memory unit designated by maintenance personnel. Themaintenance apparatus 113 then notifies the output unit of the fact thatthe data has been stored in the file. There are two kinds of maintenanceoperation response, namely a reading operation response and a solvingoperation response.

The reading operation response is a response to a reading operation andit stores an equipment data package. The equipment data package iscomprised of an equipment data ID, encrypted equipment data, and eventtransmission rules. The event transmission rules may be encrypted usinga common key that is used in encrypting equipment data. The solvingoperation response is a response to a solving operation and it storesmessage data. The message data is output by a solving program.

The maintenance apparatus 113 also has the function of transmitting amessage (“analysis start notice”) in which a maintenance personnel IDidentifying a maintenance worker, a maintenance personnel password, andthe equipment data ID that exists in the equipment data package as theobject of analysis are stored, to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which the maintenance requesthas been received. The encrypted equipment package as the object ofanalysis may be stored in a file in the external memory unit via aportable memory medium.

Upon reception of a message (“analysis start notice response”)transmitted from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123in response to the analysis start notice, the maintenance apparatus 113stores the common key stored in the analysis start notice response inthe main memory unit. The stored common key is used by the maintenanceworker in decrypting the equipment data identified by the equipment dataID stored in the analysis start notice. The maintenance apparatus 113also stores rules limiting the operation on the common key stored themain memory unit, and limits the operation on the common key stored themain memory unit according to the stored rules. The operation on thestored common key includes copying within the main memory unit andcopying from the main memory unit to the external memory unit, forexample.

The maintenance apparatus 113 then decrypts the encrypted equipment datausing the common key that was stored upon reception of the analysisstart notice response. The maintenance apparatus 113 stores thedecrypted equipment data in the main memory unit. The decryptedequipment data is used by the maintenance worker during analysis fordetermining whether the cause of trouble exists in the contents of aprogram, in the sequence of execution of the program, in communicationsin the control unit, or in a particular part of the apparatus, orwhether the result of processing is desirable.

The maintenance apparatus 113 stores rules limiting operation on theequipment data stored in the main memory unit, and limits operation onthe equipment data stored in the main memory unit according to thestored rules. The operation on the stored equipment data includescopying within the main memory unit and copying from the main memoryunit to the external memory unit, for example.

The maintenance apparatus 113 generates event data indicating thehistory of operations on the decrypted equipment data carried out by themaintenance worker. The maintenance apparatus 113 then transmits amessage (“analysis operation notice”) in which the thus generated eventdata is stored to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123that transmitted the maintenance request, in accordance with the eventtransmission rules in the equipment data package that is the object ofanalysis. The event data is used by the user of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 in determining what kind ofoperation was carried out on the equipment data, when it was carriedout, and by which maintenance worker it was carried out.

The maintenance apparatus 113 can output the decrypted equipment data tothe output unit in the form of animation (“animation display”). Thedisplayed animation is used by the maintenance worker in visuallyanalyzing the operation of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123, which cannot be seen with the naked eyes.

The maintenance apparatus 113 can also output the decrypted equipmentdata to the output unit using a timing chart (“timing chart display”).The displayed timing chart is used by the maintenance worker inanalyzing the operation of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123, which cannot be seen with the naked eyes, from theviewpoint of operation timings.

The maintenance apparatus 113 can also output the decrypted equipmentdata and other equipment data that had been recorded in advance to theoutput unit such that the different types of data are overlaid on atiming chart (“overlaid display”). The displayed timing chart is used bythe maintenance worker during analysis involving the comparison of theoperations of a plurality of items of industrial equipment or thecomparison of the operation of a single piece of industrial equipment atdifferent times.

The maintenance apparatus 113 can also be fed with grounds based onwhich the cause of a trouble has been identified. The grounds that arefed are used by the user of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment or the maintenance worker in confirming the validity of theanalysis work.

The maintenance apparatus 113 deletes the equipment data and the commonkey from the main memory unit in accordance with an operation carriedout by the maintenance worker, and then transmits a message (“analysiscompletion notice”) to the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 from which the maintenance request has been received, themessage storing data indicating the deletion of these data. The analysiscompletion notice is used by the user of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 in confirming that the decryptedequipment data and the distributed common key have been deleted in themaintenance apparatus 113 for sure. In the present embodiment, a singleanalysis work starts with the transmission of an analysis start noticeand ends with the transmission of an analysis completion notice. Theanalysis work is repeated by the maintenance worker until the cause oftrouble is identified.

The maintenance apparatus 113 also has the function of transmitting amessage (“registration operation”) to the managing apparatus 112provided at the maintenance center 110. A registration operationincludes the equipment ID of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 for which maintenance work has been completed, the errorcode of the trouble, the encrypted equipment package used in identifyingthe cause of the trouble, and the history (“maintenance results”) ofanalysis of the cause of the trouble.

The maintenance apparatus 113 is also capable of transmitting a message(“retrieval operation”) in which the equipment ID and/or the error codeis stored to the managing apparatus 112 provided at the maintenancecenter 110. The maintenance apparatus 113, upon reception of a message(“retrieval operation response”) that is transmitted from the managingapparatus 112 in response to a retrieval operation, outputs the datastored in the retrieval operation response to the output unit. Theoutput data is used by the maintenance worker in determining, withregard to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 fromwhich the maintenance request has been received, whether or not thetrouble must be dealt with online, the same trouble has occurred in thepast, and how the trouble has been dealt with, for example. The mannerin which the encrypted equipment data stored in the retrieval operationresponse is displayed is the same as in the case of displaying theencrypted equipment data read from the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123, and is therefore not describedherein.

The managing apparatus 112 provided at the maintenance center 110manages communications to and from the maintenance center 110 and theknowledge about maintenance. The managing apparatus 112 periodicallymonitors to determine whether or not a maintenance request has beenreceived from the managing apparatus 122 provided at each manufacturingfactory 120. Upon detection of the reception of a maintenance request,the managing apparatus 112 transmits the maintenance request to themanaging apparatus 112 used by a particular maintenance worker accordingto predetermined rules.

The managing apparatus 112 also has the function of transmitting themessages of maintenance operation, analysis start notice, analysisoperation notice, and analysis completion notice transmitted from themaintenance apparatus 113 in response to the maintenance request to themanaging apparatus 122 at the manufacturing factory 120 that transmittedthe maintenance request. The managing apparatus 112, upon reception of aregistration operation transmitted from the maintenance apparatus 113,registers the equipment ID, error code, equipment data package, andanalysis results that are stored in the registration operation, in aknowledge managing table in a mutually related manner. The managingapparatus 112, upon reception of the retrieval operation transmittedfrom the maintenance apparatus 113, searches the knowledge managingtable using as a key the data stored in the retrieval operation, andtransmits a retrieval operation response in which retrieved data isstored to the maintenance apparatus 113 that transmitted the retrievaloperation.

The managing apparatus 112 can calculate a countervalue on the basis ofthe messages of maintenance operation, analysis start notice, analysisoperation notice, and analysis completion notice transmitted from themaintenance apparatus 113. The managing apparatus 112, upon reception ofa registration operation transmitted from the maintenance apparatus 113,registers the results of calculation in the knowledge managing table inassociation with the contents of maintenance. The managing apparatus 112also transmits a message concerning the countervalue related to themaintenance contents registered in the knowledge managing table to themanaging apparatus 122 provided at the manufacturing factory 120.

The managing apparatus 122 provided at the manufacturing factory 120manages communication to the manufacturing factory 120. The managingapparatus 122 periodically monitors to determine whether or not amaintenance request has been received from each piece of semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123. Upon detection of the reception ofa maintenance request, the managing apparatus 122 transmits themaintenance request to the managing apparatus 122 of the maintenancecenter 110. The managing apparatus 122 also transmits the messages ofmaintenance operation, analysis start notice, analysis operation notice,and analysis completion notice transmitted from the managing apparatus112 of the maintenance center 110 in response to the maintenancerequest, to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 thattransmitted the maintenance request.

The semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 provided at themanufacturing factory 120 is used by a user of the factory 120 inmanufacturing semiconductor devices. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123, which includes aninput/output unit 130 via which the user can input data (“amanufacturing operation”) necessary for the manufacture of semiconductordevices. The semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 alsoincludes a communication unit 131 for the transmission and reception ofmessages to and from the managing apparatus 122, the messages includinga maintenance request, maintenance operation, analysis start notice,analysis operation notice, and analysis completion notice. Thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 further includes acontrol unit 132 for running programs in accordance with the maintenanceoperation or manufacturing operation, and parts 133 controlled by thecontrol unit 132.

The input/output unit 130, upon reception of manufacturing operation fedby the user, transmits a program ID designated by the thus inputmanufacturing operation, and data (“a command”) in which parameters tobe given to a program designated by the program ID are stored, to thecontrol unit 132. Upon reception of data (“a command response”) in whichthe result of execution of the program is stored from the control unit132, the input/output unit 130 extracts the program execution resultfrom the received command response and outputs it to the output unit.

The input/output unit 130, in response to a request from thecommunication unit 131, also outputs the data that has been recordedsince the reception of the analysis start notice to the reception of theanalysis completion notice, to the output unit. The communication unit131 periodically monitors the state of operation of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123. In case a trouble is detected, thecommunication unit 131 generates a maintenance request in which theequipment ID of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123and the error code for the trouble are stored, and transmits it to themanaging apparatus 112 at the maintenance center 110 via the managingapparatus 122. Upon reception of a maintenance operation transmittedfrom the maintenance apparatus 113 in response to the maintenancerequest, the communication unit 131 generates a command in which theprogram ID and parameters stored in the received maintenance operationare stored, and transmits it to the control unit 132.

There are two kinds of command, namely a reading command and a solvingcommand. In a reading command, the program ID identifies a readingprogram. In a solving command, the program ID identifies a solvingprogram.

The communication unit 131, upon reception of the command response thatis transmitted from the control unit 132 in response to the command,generates data to be stored in a maintenance operation response on thebasis of the data stored in the received command response. Thecommunication unit 131 then transmits the maintenance operation responsecontaining the generated data to the maintenance apparatus 113 thattransmitted the maintenance operation. When the command responsetransmitted from the control unit 132 is a response to a readingcommand, the communication unit 131 generates, with regard to theequipment data stored in the command response, an equipment data IDidentifying the equipment data, a common key to be used in encryptingthe equipment data, common key disclosure conditions indicating theconditions concerning the disclosure of the common key, and eventtransmission rules indicating the rules concerning the transmission ofthe history of operation to the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123. The communication unit 131 then registers these items ofdata in a common-key managing table in a mutually related manner. Thecommunication unit 131 then encrypts the equipment data stored in thecommand response using the registered common key, and then stores anequipment data package comprised of the generated equipment data ID, theencrypted equipment data, and the event transmission rules in themaintenance operation response. The event transmission rules may beencrypted using the common key with which the equipment data wasencrypted.

The communication unit 131, when the command response transmitted fromthe control unit 132 is a response to a solving command, stores themessage data stored in the command response in the maintenance operationresponse. The communication unit 131 also registers maintenancepersonnel attributes indicating the attributes of maintenance personnelin a maintenance personnel attribute managing table. The data stored inthe maintenance personnel attributes includes a maintenance personnelpassword and maintenance personnel type. The maintenance attributes areinput by the user in advance. Upon reception of an analysis start noticefrom the maintenance apparatus 113, the communication unit 131 verifiesa maintenance worker by comparing the maintenance personnel passwordstored in the analysis start notice with that stored in the maintenanceattribute-managing table. By this verification, the maintenance workercan be identified by unique identifiers.

The communication unit 131, upon reception of an analysis start noticefrom the maintenance apparatus 113, searches the common-key managingtable for the common-key disclosure condition, using the equipment dataID stored in the notice as a key. The communication unit 131 retrievesthe common key from the common-key managing table using the equipmentdata ID stored in the analysis start notice as a key only when thecondition in the common-key disclosure condition is met by theattributes of the maintenance worker, and transmits an analysis startnotice response in which the common key is stored to the maintenanceapparatus 113 from which the analysis start notice has been received.

The communication unit 131, upon reception of the messages of analysisstart notice, analysis operation notice, and analysis completion noticefrom the maintenance apparatus 113, records the data stored in eachmessage in an analysis-state managing table. The communication unit 131,upon reception of an analysis completion notice from the maintenanceapparatus 113, refers the analysis-state managing table for the datathat has been recorded since the reception of the analysis start noticeto the reception of the analysis completion notice. The communicationunit 131 then requests the input/output unit 130 via the control unit132 that it output the above data to the output unit.

The control unit 132 has the function of storing a reading program and asolving program in a program managing table. The control unit 132, uponreception of a command from the communication unit 131, runs a programdesignated by the command using the parameters associated with theprogram. The control unit 132 then transmits a command response in whichprogram execution results are stored to the communication unit 131. Thecontrol unit 132, when the command received from the communication unit131 is a reading command, uses equipment data that has been read asprogram execution results. When the command received from thecommunication unit 131 is a solving command, the control unit 132 usesmessage data outputted by a solving program as the program executionresults. The control unit 132 also records data (“program executionhistory”) concerning the history of commands transmitted by theinput/output unit 130 in a program execution-history managing table. Theprogram execution history stores information about what program wasexecuted, by which user such program was used, which parameters wereused, and when it was executed.

The control unit 132 also records data (“sensor-state history”)indicating how the state of each part 133 has transitioned in asensor-state history managing table. The sensor-state history storesinformation about which part was transitioned, into what state such partwas transitioned and when the transition took place. The control unit132 also records data (“processing results”) indicating the state of awafer processed by each part 133 in a processing result-managing table.The processing result stores information about which wafer transitionedinto which state.

Hereafter, the structure of the equipment data package stored in themaintenance apparatus 113 and the managing apparatus 112 will bedescribed. FIG. 3 shows an example of the equipment data package. Anequipment data package 140 is comprised of an equipment data ID 141, anencrypted equipment data 142, and event transmission rules 143. Theequipment data ID 141 stores data identifying the equipment data storedin the encrypted equipment data 142 in an encrypted form. The encryptedequipment data 142 stores equipment data that has been read and whichhas been encrypted using the common key. The event transmission rules143 stores data concerning the transmission of the history of operationby maintenance personnel on the encrypted equipment data stored in theencrypted equipment data 142 to the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123.

In the following, the structure of tables managed by the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 will be described. FIG. 4 shows anexample of the common-key managing table managed by the communicationunit 131 in the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123. Eachrow of a common-key managing table 150, in which a common key and acommon-key disclosure condition are stored for each item of equipmentdata, is comprised of an equipment data ID 151, a common key 152, and acommon-key disclosure condition 153. The equipment data ID 151 storesdata identifying the equipment data. The common key 152 stores dataindicating the common key that is used when decrypting the equipmentdata identified by the value stored in the equipment data ID 151. Thecommon-key disclosure condition 153 stores data indicating the conditionabout the attributes of a maintenance worker that are required in orderto disclose the value stored in the common key 152. In the presentexample, the common key for the equipment data D1 is ABC . . . ,indicating that the key is only disclosed to upper-level maintenancepersonnel. The common key for the equipment data D2 is CBA . . . ,indicating that the key is only disclosed to upper- andintermediate-level maintenance personnel.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the maintenance personnel attribute managingtable managed by the communication unit 131 in the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123. Each row of a maintenancepersonnel attribute managing table 160 stores the attributes of eachmaintenance worker and is comprised of a maintenance personnel ID 161, amaintenance personnel password 162, and a maintenance personnel type163. The maintenance personnel ID 161 stores data identifying eachmaintenance worker. The maintenance personnel password 162 stores dataindicating each maintenance worker's password. The maintenance personneltype 163 stores data indicating the type of each maintenance worker. Inthe illustrated example, the password for maintenance worker D1 is 1234,and he or she is an upper-level maintenance worker. Similarly, thepassword for maintenance worker D2 is 5678, and he or she is anintermediate-level maintenance worker.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the analysis-state managing table managed bythe communication unit 131 of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123. Each row of an analysis-state managing table 170 storesthe contents of an analysis start notice, analysis operation, andanalysis completion notice that have been received by the communicationunit 131 of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 foreach particular trouble. Each row is comprised of an analysis work ID171, an equipment data ID 172, a recorded date 173, a company ID 174, amaintenance personnel ID 175, and contents 176. The analysis work ID 171stores data identifying analysis work. The equipment data ID 172 storesdata identifying the equipment data as the object of analysis. Therecorded date 173 stores data indicating the date on which the historywas recorded. The maintenance personnel type 174 stores data indicatingthe type of the maintenance worker who did the analysis work. Themaintenance personnel ID 175 stores data identifying the analysis workerwho did the analysis work. The contents 176 stores data indicating thecontents of an analysis start notice, analysis operation, and analysiscompletion notice.

In the illustrated example, it can be seen that the analysis work isanalysis work 101, the encrypted data that has been analyzed isencrypted data D1, and the maintenance worker who did the analysis ismaintenance worker A1, an upper-level maintenance worker. It can also beseen that in the analysis work 101, a common key was obtained from thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 at 11:10:00 on Jan.3, 2001; encrypted equipment data was decrypted using the common key at11:10:30 on Jan. 3, 2001; the operation of a transfer system wasanimation-displayed at 11:11:00 on Jan. 3, 2001; the operation of aventilation system was animation-displayed at 11:11:30 on Jan. 3, 2001;the operation of an optical system was animation-displayed at 11:12:00on Jan. 3, 2001; the operation of the optical system was timing-chartdisplayed at 11:12:30 on Jan. 3, 2001; the operation of the opticalsystem was overlay-displayed at 11:13:00 on Jan. 3, 2001; the cause oftrouble was determined to exist in the optical system at 11:13:30 onJan. 3, 2001; the decrypted equipment data was deleted at 11:14:00 onJan. 3, 2001; and the obtained common key was deleted at 11:14:30 onJan. 3, 2001.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the program managing table managed by thecontrol unit 132 of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment123. Each row of a program managing table 180 stores a program run bythe control unit 132, and is comprised of program ID 181, program type182, designation 183, process conditions 184, and process procedure 185.The program ID 181 stores data uniquely identifying individual programs.The program type 182 stores data indicating the type of each program.The designation 183 stores data indicating the designation of eachprogram. The process condition 184 stores data indicating conditionsconcerning processes performed by the control unit 132. The processprocedure 185 stores data indicating the procedure of processesperformed by the control unit 132. There may exist programs that do notrequire the setting of process conditions.

In this example, program P1 is a program for reading a program, its typeis a reading program, and it executes a procedure called READ PROGRAM.Program P2 is a program for reading a program execution history, itstype is a reading program, and it carries out a procedure called READPROGRAM EXECUTION HISTORY. Program P3 is a program for reading asensor-state history, its type is a reading program, and it carries outa procedure called READ SENSOR-STATE HISTORY. Program P4 is a programfor reading processing results, its type is a reading program, and itcarries out a procedure called READ PROCESSING RESULT. Program P5 is aprogram for generating programs, its program type is a solving program,and it carries out a procedure called CREATE PROGRAM. Program P6 is aprogram for editing programs, its type is a solving program, and itcarries out a procedure called EDIT PROGRAM. Program P7 is a program fordeleting programs, its type is a solving program, and it carries out aprocedure called DELETE PROGRAM. Program P8 is a program for processinga wafer in an automatic mode, its type is a solving program, and itprocesses the wafer automatically, using slot No. 1 on a wafer-by-waferbasis, with a processing condition that a measured wafer image be storedin image 1, and with the procedures of wafer loading, wafer alignment,addressing, measurement, and wafer unloading being carried out insequence. Program P9 is a program for processing a wafer in a manualmode, its type is a solving program, it uses slot No. 2, and theprocessing proceeds on a cassette-by-cassette basis, with the processingcondition that a measured wafer image be stored in image 2, and with thesame procedures as those in program P8 being carried out.

FIG. 8 shows examples of the program execution-history managing table,the sensor-state history managing table, and the processingresult-managing table that are managed by the control unit 132 of thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123. Each row of theprogram execution-history managing table 190 stores the history ofexecution of each program, and is comprised of an execution date 191, auser ID 192, a program ID 193, and parameters 194. The execution date191 stores data indicating the date on which a program was run. The userID 192 stores data identifying the user of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 in which the program was run. Theprogram ID 193 stores data identifying a program that has been run. Theparameters 194 stores data indicating the parameters given to theprogram that has been run.

In this example, it can be seen that a user U1 ran a program P8 at10:10:10 on Jan. 2, 2001, and the user U1 ran program P9 at 10:15:10 onJan. 2, 2001. Each row of the sensor-state history managing table 200stores the history of states of each part 133 at each time, and iscomprised of entries for recorded date 201 and sensor S1 202, sensor S2203, . . . , and so on. The recording date 201 stores data indicatingthe date on which a state value of each part 127 was recorded. Thesensor S1 202, sensor S2 202, . . . , and so on stores data indicatingthe state of each part 133 measured by each sensor. In this example, itcan be seen that the state values for the individual parts 133 were0.01, 0.10, . . . , and so on at 10:10:10 on Jan. 2, 2001, and 0.02,0.20, . . . , and so on at 10:10:11 on Jan. 2, 2001.

Each row of the processing results managing table 210 stores the resultsof processing of each wafer, and is comprised of a wafer ID 211 and awafer image 212. The wafer ID 211 stores data uniquely identifying eachwafer. The wafer image 212 stores image data indicating the state of thesurface of a wafer. In this example, it can be seen that the state ofthe surface of the wafer W1 is normal and that the state of the surfaceof wafer W2 is abnormal.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the knowledge managing table managed by themanaging apparatus 112 provided at the maintenance center 110. Each rowof the knowledge managing table 220 stores the history of analysis ofthe cause of trouble in each analysis work, and is comprised of anequipment ID 221, an error code 222, an equipment data package 223, andanalysis results 224. The equipment ID 221 stores data identifying thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 where a particulartrouble occurred. The error code 222 stores data identifying the troubleat the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123. The equipmentdata package 223 stores the encrypted equipment data package that wasused in identifying the cause of the trouble. The analysis results 224stores data indicating the history of analysis of the cause of thetrouble.

In this example, the cause of the trouble with the error code E0123 thatoccurred in the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment T1 wasidentified by analyzing the equipment data package P1 as described inanalysis results R1. Similarly, the cause of the trouble with error codeE0124 that occurred in the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment T1 was identified by analyzing the equipment data package P2as described in analysis results R2.

Hereafter, the structure of the messages transmitted and received amongthe maintenance apparatus 113, the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 and the managing apparatus 112 will be described. FIG. 10shows examples of the messages of maintenance request, analysis startnotice, analysis start notice response, analysis operation notice, andanalysis completion notice that are transmitted and received between themaintenance apparatus 113 and the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123. FIG. 10 also shows examples of the messages ofregistration operation, retrieval operation, and retrieval operationresponse that are transmitted and received between the maintenanceapparatus 113 and the managing apparatus 112.

A maintenance request 230 is a message the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 transmits to the maintenanceapparatus 113 in order to request maintenance, and is comprised of anequipment ID 231 and an error code 232. The equipment ID 231 stores dataidentifying the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment where atrouble has been detected. The error code 232 stores data indicating thenature of the trouble. The maintenance request may include items for thedate on which the trouble was detected, the ID for the semiconductordevice manufacturing factory, and the type of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment.

An analysis start notice 240 is a message the maintenance apparatus 113transmits to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 fornotifying it of the start of an analysis work. The message is comprisedof a maintenance personnel ID 241, a password 242, and an equipment dataID 243. The maintenance personnel ID 241 stores data identifying themaintenance worker who carries out the analysis work. The password 242stores data indicating the password for the maintenance worker whocarries out the analysis work. The equipment data ID 243 stores dataidentifying the encrypted equipment data that is subjected to theanalysis work.

An analysis start notice response 250 is a message the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 transmits to the maintenanceapparatus 113 for handing the common key to be used in decrypting theencrypted equipment data, and the message is comprised of a common key251. The common key 251 stores data indicating the common key to be usedin decrypting the encrypted equipment data to be analyzed.

An analysis operation notice 260 is a message the maintenance apparatus113 transmits to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123for notifying the history of operations carried out on the equipmentdata by an analyzing worker. The message is comprised of an event 261.The event 261 stores data indicating the history of operations carriedout on the equipment data by a maintenance worker.

An analysis completion notice 270 is a message the maintenance apparatus113 transmits to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123in order to notify the completion of an analysis work. The message iscomprised of an equipment data deletion flag 271 and a common-keydeletion flag 272. The equipment data deletion flag 271 stores dataindicating that the decrypted equipment data has been deleted. Thecommon-key deletion flag 272 stores data indicating that the common keyhas been deleted. A registration operation 280 is a message themaintenance apparatus 113 transmits to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 for registering the knowledge aboutmaintenance. The message is comprised of an equipment ID 281, an errorcode 282, an equipment data package 283, and analysis results 284.

The equipment ID 281 stores data identifying the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment that carried out analysis. The errorcode 282 stores data indicating the nature of the trouble in thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment that was analyzed. Theequipment data package 283 stores the equipment data package that wasused in identifying the cause of the trouble. The analysis results 284stores data indicating the history of analysis of the cause of thetrouble.

A retrieval operation 290 is a message which the maintenance apparatus113 transmits to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123in order to retrieve the knowledge about maintenance, and is comprisedof a retrieval key 291. The retrieval key 291 stores data identifyingthe semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment and data specifyingthe nature of the trouble.

A retrieval operation response 300 is a message which the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 transmits to the maintenanceapparatus 123 in order to return the knowledge about maintenance thathas been retrieved. The message is comprised of retrieval results 301.The retrieval results 301 stores data that has been retrieved using aretrieval key.

Hereafter, the flow of the processes carried out by each of themaintenance apparatus 113, semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123, and managing apparatus 112 shown in FIG. 1 will bedescribed. FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of the operation of the maintenanceapparatus 113 when transmitting and receiving an analysis start notice240 and an analysis start notice response 250.

First, the maintenance apparatus 113 receives an instruction from amaintenance worker to transmit the analysis start notice 240 (step 311).The maintenance apparatus 113 then transmits the analysis start notice240 in which the maintenance personnel ID, the maintenance personnelpassword, and the equipment data ID for the equipment data package 140are stored to the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123from which a maintenance request 230 has been received (step 312). Themaintenance apparatus then receives an analysis start notice response250 transmitted from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment123 in response to the analysis start notice 240 (step 313). Themaintenance apparatus 113 then stores the common key stored in theanalysis start notice response 250 in the main memory unit (step 314).The maintenance apparatus 113 then decrypts the encrypted equipment datastored in the equipment data package 140 using the stored common key(step 315). The maintenance apparatus 113 then stores the decryptedequipment data in the main memory unit (step 315). Next, the maintenanceapparatus 113 stores the event transmission rules stored in theequipment data package 140 in the main memory unit (step 317). Themaintenance apparatus 113 then outputs the decrypted equipment data tothe output unit (step 318), and the process comes to an end (step 319).

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the operation of the communication unit 131of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 as it receivesand transmits the analysis start notice 240 and the analysis startnotice response 250. The communication unit 131 initially receives theanalysis start notice 240 from the maintenance apparatus 113 (step 321).The communication unit 131 then verifies the maintenance worker bycomparing the maintenance personnel password stored in the analysisstart notice 240 with that stored in the maintenance attribute managingtable (step 322). Next, the communication unit 131 retrieves acommon-key disclosure condition from the common-key managing table,using the equipment data ID stored in the analysis start notice 240 as akey, and determines whether or not the attributes of the maintenanceworker satisfy the retrieved common-key disclosure condition (step 323).If satisfied, the communication unit 131 retrieves the common key fromthe common-key managing table, using the equipment data ID stored in theanalysis start notice 240 as a key (step 325). If not, the process comesto an end (step 328). Next, the communication unit 131 transmits theanalysis start notice response 250 in which the retrieved common key isstored to the maintenance apparatus 113 from which the analysis startnotice 240 has been received (step 326). After recording the contents ofthe analysis start notice response 250 that has been transmitted in theanalysis-state managing table (step 327), the process comes to an end(step 328).

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of the operation of the maintenance apparatus113 as it transmits an analysis operation notice. First, the maintenanceapparatus 113 receives an instruction from the maintenance worker tocarry out an operation on the equipment data outputted to the outputunit (step 331). The maintenance apparatus 113 then generates event dataindicating the contents of the operation it has accepted (step 332).Next, the maintenance apparatus 113 transmits an analysis operationnotice in which the generated event data is stored to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which the maintenance requesthas been received, in accordance with the stored event transmissionrules (step 333). The process then comes to an end (step 334).

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of the operation of the communication unit 131of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 upon receptionof the analysis operation notice. The communication unit 131 initiallyreceives the analysis operation notice 260 from the maintenanceapparatus 113 (step 341). Then, the communication unit 131 records thedata stored in the analysis operation notice 260 in the analysis statetable (step 342), and then the process comes to an end (step 343).

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of the operation of the maintenance apparatus113 as it transmits an analysis completion notice. First, themaintenance apparatus 113 receives an instruction from the maintenanceworker to transmit an analysis completion notice (step 251). Then, themaintenance apparatus 113 deletes the equipment data stored in the mainmemory unit (step 252). The maintenance apparatus 113 then deletes thecommon key stored in the main memory unit (step 253). Next, themaintenance apparatus 113 transmits the analysis completion notice tothe semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which themaintenance request 230 has been received, the analysis completionnotice containing data indicating that the equipment data and the commonkey stored in the main memory unit have been deleted (step 254). Then,the process comes to an end (step 255).

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of the operation of the communication unit 131of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 upon receptionof the analysis completion notice. First, the communication unit 131receives the analysis completion notice from the maintenance apparatus113 (step 361). The communication unit 131 then records the contents ofthe received analysis completion notice in the analysis-state managingtable (step 362). Then, the communication unit 131 reads data concerningthe particular analysis work from the analysis-state managing table, andoutputs the data to the output unit (step 363). The process then comesto an end (step 364).

Hereafter, a window that is displayed on the output unit of thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 and that of themaintenance apparatus 113 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 17shows an example of an analysis work window that is displayed on theoutput unit of the maintenance apparatus 113 in steps 311 and 318 of theprocess flow shown in FIG. 11, in step 331 of the process flow shown inFIG. 13, and in step 351 of the process flow shown in FIG. 15.

A maintenance work window 370 shows the equipment data ID stored in anequipment data package 140 designated by a maintenance worker. On thiswindow, the maintenance worker can enter instructions for thetransmission of an analysis start notice 240, an analysis operationnotice 260, and an analysis completion notice 270. The window iscomposed of an equipment data package-stored file field 371, anequipment data ID panel 372, an action panel 373, an analysis startnotice panel 380, an equipment data display panel 383, and a commentfield 389.

The equipment data package-stored file field 371 is where themaintenance worker can enter the name of a file in which the equipmentdata package 140 to be analyzed is stored. In the illustrated example,the equipment data package 140 to be analyzed is stored in C:¥results¥result0123.

The equipment data ID panel 372 is where the value of the equipment dataID that is stored in the equipment data package 140 designated in theequipment data package-stored file field 371 is shown to the analyzingworker. In the illustrated example, the value of the equipment data IDis D1.

The action panel 373 is where the maintenance worker can enterinstructions for the transmission of an analysis start notice 240,analysis operation notice 260, and analysis completion notice 270. Theaction panel 373 is composed of an analysis start notice transmissionbutton 374, analysis operation notice transmission buttons 375, 376,377, and 378, and an analysis completion notice transmission button 379.

The analysis start notice transmission button 374 is for the maintenanceworker to enter the instruction to transmit an analysis start notice240. As this button is depressed by the maintenance worker using amouse, an analysis start notice 240 is transmitted to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which the maintenance request230 has been received, the notice containing the maintenance personnelID and maintenance personnel password that have been entered on theanalysis start notice panel 380 and the equipment data ID shown on theequipment data ID panel 372.

The analysis operation notice transmission buttons 375, 376, 377, and378 are for the maintenance worker to enter an instruction for thetransmission of a maintenance operation notice 270. When one of thesebuttons is depressed by the maintenance worker using a mouse, event dataindicating the history of operation associated with the depressed buttonis generated. Then an analysis operation notice 260 is transmitted tothe semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which themaintenance request 230 has been received in accordance with the storedevent transmission rules, the notice containing the generated eventdata. In the illustrated example, the analysis operation noticetransmission button 375 indicates that the equipment data is to beanimation-displayed (A-display) and that event data indicating thatanimation display has taken place is generated and transmitted.

The analysis operation notice transmission button 376 indicates that theequipment data is to be timing chart-displayed (T-display) and thatevent data indicating that timing-chart display has taken place isgenerated and transmitted.

The analysis operation notice transmission button 377 indicates that theequipment data is to be overlay-displayed (O-display) and that eventdata indicating that overlay display has taken place is generated andtransmitted.

The analysis operation notice transmission button 378 indicates thatevent data indicating that the cause of trouble has been identified isgenerated and transmitted. The grounds for the decision entered in acomment field 389 by the maintenance worker are also stored in the eventdata indicating the identification of the cause of trouble.

The analysis completion notice button 379 is for the maintenance workerto enter an instruction for the transmission of an analysis completionnotice 270. When this button is depressed by the maintenance workerusing a mouse, the equipment data and the common key stored in the mainmemory unit are deleted. Then, an analysis completion notice containingdata indicating the deletion is transmitted to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 from which the maintenance request230 has been received.

The analysis start notice panel 380 is where the analyzing worker entershis or her ID and password to be stored in an analysis start notice 240.The panel is composed of a maintenance personnel ID field 381 and amaintenance personnel password field 382.

The maintenance personnel ID field 381 is where the maintenance workerenters his or her ID using a keyboard. In the illustrated example, themaintenance ID is A1. The maintenance personnel password field 382 iswhere the maintenance worker enters his or her password using akeyboard. In the illustrated example, the maintenance personnel passwordis 1234. An equipment data display panel 383 shows the decryptedequipment data to the maintenance worker.

In the illustrated example, the maintenance worker has depressed theanalysis operation notice button 375, so that the operation of a robotarm 385 mounted on the rails 384 taking out a wafer 387 from a cassette386 is shown via animation. When the maintenance worker depresses theanalysis operation notice transmission button 376 or 377, the equipmentdata can be displayed via a timing chart or one on which other equipmentdata that has been recorded in advance is overlaid.

The comment field 389 is where the maintenance worker enters, using akeyboard, the grounds based on which he or she has determined the causeof a trouble. In the illustrated example, it can be seen that themaintenance worker decided that the rails are not smooth because thereare abrupt fluctuations in the motor current value.

FIG. 18 shows an example of an analysis-state output window outputted tothe output unit of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment123 in step 363 of the process flow shown in FIG. 16. An analysis stateoutput window 390 shows the history of analysis that has been recordedsince the reception of the analysis start notice 240 to the reception ofthe analysis completion notice 270 for the user of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123. The window includes an analysisstate list 391. Each row of the analysis state list 391 shows thecontents of the analysis start notice 240, analysis operation 260, andanalysis completion notice 270 that have been received by thecommunication unit 131 of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 regarding a particular trouble. The rows are composed ofan analysis work ID field 392, an equipment data ID field 393, arecorded date field 394, a maintenance personnel type field 395, amaintenance personnel ID field 396, and a content field 397. Thecontents of the individual fields are the same as the data stored in theindividual entries of the analysis-state managing table 170, and are,therefore, not described.

Thus, the system according to the present embodiment is made up of oneor more pieces of industrial equipment for performing certain processes,and a maintenance apparatus for maintaining the industrial equipment,which are connected via the Internet. The industrial equipment isprovided with an encryption unit, a communication unit, and aninput/output unit. The encryption unit encrypts equipment informationindicating the state of the industrial equipment, using a predeterminedcommon key. The communication unit transmits the equipment informationencrypted by the encryption unit to the maintenance apparatus inresponse to a request therefrom. The communication unit also transmitsthe common key used in encrypting the equipment information to themaintenance apparatus that has received the encrypted equipmentinformation in response to a request therefrom. The input/output unitoutputs all or part of the history of transmission of the common keyfrom the industrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus. Themaintenance apparatus includes a communication unit, a decryption unit,and an input/output unit. The communication unit receives the encryptedequipment information transmitted from the communication unit of theindustrial equipment, and the common key used in encrypting theequipment information from the industrial equipment after requesting ittherefrom. The decryption unit stores the common key received by thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus, and decrypts theencrypted equipment information using the stored common key. Theinput/output unit stores the equipment information decrypted by thedecryption unit, and outputs all or part of the stored equipmentinformation.

Thus, it is possible to disclose the equipment information stored ineach piece of the industrial equipment to the maintenance personnelsafely to the extent permitted by the user of the industrial equipment.The input/output unit of the industrial equipment outputs the encryptedequipment information to a memory medium, and the input/output unit ofthe maintenance apparatus receives that encrypted equipment informationfrom the memory medium. Thus, it is possible to input the encryptedequipment information to the maintenance apparatus using any desiredmedium.

The communication unit of the industrial equipment encrypts the commonkey using a public key associated with the maintenance apparatus. Thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus decrypts the common keyreceived from the communication unit of the industrial equipment using asecret key associated with the public key. Thus, the common key can betransmitted to the maintenance apparatus safely.

The communication unit of the industrial equipment carries attributeinformation indicating the attributes of the user of the maintenanceapparatus, and condition information concerning the attributes of theuser of the maintenance apparatus that are required when transmittingthe common key. When the common key is requested by the maintenanceapparatus, the communication unit reads the user's attribute informationand the condition information about the common key, and transmits thecommon key to the maintenance apparatus only when the condition in thecondition information that has been read is satisfied by the attributesin the attribute information that has been read. Thus, it is possible totransmit the common key only to a specific maintenance worker.

The decryption unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limitingthe operation on the common key received by the communication unit ofthe maintenance apparatus, and limits the operation on the common keyreceived by the communication unit of the maintenance apparatusaccording to the stored rules. Thus, it is possible to manage the commonkey in the maintenance apparatus safely.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limitingthe operation on the equipment information decrypted by the decryptionunit of the maintenance apparatus, and limits the operation on theequipment information decrypted by the decryption unit of themaintenance apparatus according to the stored rules. Accordingly, it ispossible to manage the decrypted equipment information in themaintenance apparatus safely. Further, the input/output unit of themaintenance apparatus outputs the stored equipment information viaanimation, so that the operation on the industrial equipment that cannotbe seen with the naked eye can be visually analyzed. The input/outputunit of the maintenance apparatus outputs the stored equipmentinformation using a timing chart, so that the operation of theindustrial equipment that cannot be seen with the naked eye can beanalyzed from the operational timing perspectives. Furthermore, theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs a plurality ofitems of stored equipment data to the output unit such that theindividual items of data are overlaid on a timing chart. Thus, it ispossible to compare the operation of multiple pieces of industrialequipment or the operation of a single piece of industrial equipment atdifferent times.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating the contents of the operation carried out by theuser of the maintenance apparatus on the equipment information outputtedby the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus. The communicationunit of the maintenance apparatus transmits the event informationgenerated by the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to theindustrial equipment that transmitted the common key. The communicationunit of the industrial equipment receives the event informationtransmitted by the maintenance apparatus to which the common key hasbeen transmitted. The input/output unit of the industrial equipmentoutputs all or part of the event information received by thecommunication unit of the industrial equipment. Thus, the user of theindustrial equipment can recognize the contents of the operation carriedout by the user of the maintenance apparatus on the decrypted equipmentinformation.

Because the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generatesevent information indicating that the cause of trouble has beenidentified by the user of the maintenance apparatus, the user of theindustrial equipment can recognize whether or not the cause of troublehas been identified as a result of analysis. Because the input/outputunit of the maintenance apparatus receives the grounds on the basis ofwhich the user of the maintenance apparatus decided that a particularevent is responsible for a trouble and stores the grounds in the eventinformation, the user of the industrial equipment can recognize thegrounds for decision on the cause of the trouble. Furthermore, becausethe input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the common key stored in the decryption unitof the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of themaintenance apparatus, the user of the industrial equipment canrecognize the fact that the common key transmitted to the maintenanceapparatus has been deleted. Because the input/output unit of themaintenance apparatus further generates event information indicatingthat the equipment information stored in the input/output unit of themaintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus, the user of the industrial equipment can recognize that theequipment information decrypted in the maintenance apparatus has beendeleted.

The communication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules for the transmission of the event informationgenerated by the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to theindustrial equipment, and transmits the event information generated bythe input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to the industrialequipment in accordance with the stored event transmission rules. Thusthe rules for the transmission of a particular item of event informationcan be changed in a flexible manner. The communication unit of themaintenance apparatus stores the event transmission rules concerning thetransmission of the event information indicating the identification ofthe cause of trouble by the user of the maintenance apparatus to theindustrial equipment that has transmitted the common key. Thus the userof the industrial equipment can recognize whether or not the cause oftrouble has been identified as a result of analysis. Furthermore, thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores the eventtransmission rules concerning the transmission of the event informationabout the grounds based on which a particular event has been identifiedas the cause of a trouble to the industrial equipment that hastransmitted the common key. Thus the user of the industrial equipmentcan recognize the grounds on which the decision about the cause oftrouble is based. Further, the communication unit of the maintenanceapparatus stores the event transmission rules concerning thetransmission of the event information indicating that the common keystored in the decryption unit of the maintenance apparatus has beendeleted by the user of the maintenance apparatus to the industrialequipment that transmitted the common key. Thus, the user of theindustrial equipment can recognize the fact that the common keytransmitted to the maintenance apparatus has been deleted.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores the eventtransmission rules concerning the transmission of the event informationindicating that the equipment information stored in the input/outputunit of the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of themaintenance apparatus to the industrial equipment that transmitted thecommon key. Thus the user of the industrial equipment can recognize thefact that the equipment information decrypted in the maintenanceapparatus has been deleted.

The maintenance apparatus includes a registration unit for registeringthe information identifying the industrial equipment, the encryptedequipment information used in identifying the cause of trouble, and amethod of dealing with the trouble, in a mutually related manner. Theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs a method ofdealing with the trouble by referring to the registration unit, so thatthe users of the maintenance apparatus can share the knowledge about themethod of analyzing the cause of trouble.

Various other modifications can be made to the invention. A secondembodiment, which is a modification of the first embodiment, will bedescribed below.

In the first embodiment the equipment information stored in each item ofindustrial equipment can be safely disclosed to maintenance personnel tothe extent permitted by the user of the industrial equipment. In thesecond embodiment, the disclosure of the equipment information stored ineach item of industrial equipment and the safety of the equipmentinformation can be centrally managed by a managing apparatus. While inthe system according to the second embodiment the configuration of thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 and that of themanaging apparatus 122 provided in the manufacturing factory 120 havebeen changed, the configuration of the maintenance apparatus 113 andthat of the managing apparatus 112 provided in the maintenance center110 are similar to those in the first embodiment.

FIG. 19 shows a block diagram of the managing apparatus 122 provided atthe manufacturing factory 120. The managing apparatus 122 centrallymanages the equipment data stored in each piece of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 provided at the manufacturingfactory 120. The managing apparatus 122 is comprised of an input/outputunit 400 for outputting data indicating the state of analysis to theuser of the managing apparatus 122, a communication unit 401 fortransmitting and receiving messages between the managing apparatus 112and the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123, and acontrol unit 402 for controlling the input/output unit 400 and thecommunication unit 401.

The input/output unit 400 has the function of outputting the data thathas been recorded since the reception of an analysis start notice to thereception of an analysis completion notice to the output unit.

The communication unit 401 periodically monitors the state of operationof the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123. Upondetection of a trouble, the communication unit 401 generates amaintenance request in which the equipment ID of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 and the error code of the troubleare stored and transmits it to the managing apparatus 122 of themaintenance center 110.

The communication unit 401, upon reception of a maintenance operationtransmitted from the maintenance apparatus 113 in response to themaintenance request, transmits to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 where the trouble has taken place.The communication unit 401, upon reception of a maintenance operationresponse from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 inresponse to the maintenance operation, generates data to be transmittedto the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 which hastransmitted the maintenance operation, using the data stored in thereceived maintenance operation response. The communication unit 401 thentransmits the maintenance operation response in which the generated datais stored to the maintenance apparatus 113 that transmitted themaintenance operation.

The communication unit 401, when the maintenance operation responsetransmitted from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123is a reading operation response, generates an equipment data ID, acommon key, a common-key disclosure condition, and event transmissionrules with regard to the equipment data stored in the maintenanceoperation response. The communication unit 401 then registers theseitems of data in a common-key managing table in a mutually relatedmanner, and encrypts the equipment data stored in the maintenanceoperation response using the registered common key. The communicationunit 401 then stores an equipment data package including the thusgenerated equipment data ID, encrypted equipment data, and eventtransmission rules in the maintenance operation response. The eventtransmission rules may be encrypted using the common key with which theequipment data has been encrypted.

When the maintenance operation response transmitted from thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 is a solvingoperation response, the communication unit 401 stores the message datastored in the maintenance operation response in a maintenance operationresponse. The communication unit 401 also has the function ofregistering the maintenance personnel attributes indicating theattributes of a maintenance worker in a maintenance personnel attributemanaging table. The data stored in the maintenance personnel attributesincludes a maintenance personnel password and a maintenance personneltype. The maintenance personnel attributes are input by the user inadvance.

The communication unit 401, upon reception of an analysis start noticefrom the maintenance apparatus 113, verifies the maintenance worker bycomparing the password stored in the analysis start notice and thatstored in the maintenance personnel attribute managing table. By thisverification, the maintenance worker is identified by a uniqueidentifier.

The communication unit 401, upon reception of an analysis start noticefrom the maintenance apparatus 113, searches the common-key managingtable for a common-key disclosure condition, using the equipment data IDstored in the analysis start notice as a key. The communication unit 401then searches the common-key managing table for the common key only whenthe common-key disclosure condition is satisfied by the maintenanceworker's attributes. The communication unit 401 then transmits ananalysis start notice response in which the retrieved common key isstored to the maintenance apparatus 113 that transmitted the analysisstart notice.

The communication unit 401, upon reception of the messages of analysisstart notice, analysis operation notice, and analysis completion noticefrom the maintenance apparatus 113, records the data stored in eachmessage in the analysis-state managing table. The communication unit401, upon reception of an analysis completion notice from themaintenance apparatus 113, requests an input/output unit 400, via thecontrol unit 402, that it refer the analysis-state managing table forthe data that has been recorded since the reception of the analysisstart notice until the reception of the analysis completion notice andtransmit the data to the output unit.

The semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 provided at themanufacturing factory 120 includes an input/output unit 130 that is usedby the user in entering manufacturing operation, a communication unit131 for receiving maintenance operation from the managing apparatus 122,a control unit 132 for executing programs in accordance with thereceived maintenance operation, and a part 134 controlled by the controlunit 132. The control unit 132 and the part 134 are similar to thosedescribed with reference to the first embodiment. Therefore, in thefollowing, the input/output unit 130 and the communication unit 131 willbe described in detail.

The input/output unit 130, upon reception of manufacturing operationentered by the user, transmits a command in which a program IDdesignated by the entered manufacturing operation and parameters givento the program are stored to the control unit 132. Upon reception of acommand response from the control unit 132 in which the result ofexecution of the program is stored, the input/output unit 130 extractsthe program execution results from the received command response andoutputs them to the output unit.

The communication unit 131 periodically monitors the state of operationof the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123. Upondetection of a trouble, the communication unit 131 generates amaintenance request in which the equipment ID of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 and the error code for the troubleare stored, and transmits the request via the managing apparatus 122 tothe managing apparatus 12 of the maintenance center 110. Thecommunication unit 131, upon reception of maintenance operationtransmitted from the maintenance apparatus 113 in response to themaintenance request, generates a command in which the program ID andparameters stored in the received maintenance operation are stored, andtransmits the command to the control unit 132. The communication unit131, upon reception of a command response transmitted from the controlunit 132 in response to the command, transmits a maintenance operationresponse in which the received command response is stored to themanaging apparatus 122.

As the structure of the equipment data package, managing table andmessages, as well as the output window, are similar to those describedwith reference to the first embodiment, they are not described herein.

The process flow of the managing apparatus 122 as it receives ortransmits the analysis start notice, analysis start notice response,analysis operation notice, and analysis completion notice is similar tothat of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 describedwith reference to the first embodiment and, therefore, is not describedherein.

Thus, the on-line diagnostics system according to the present embodimentcomprises one or more pieces of industrial equipment for performingspecific processes, a managing apparatus for managing informationtransmitted from the industrial equipment, and a maintenance apparatusfor the maintenance of the industrial equipment, which are connected bythe Internet. The industrial equipment includes a communication unit fortransmitting equipment information indicating the state of theindustrial equipment to the managing apparatus. The managing apparatusincludes an encryption unit, a communication unit, and an input/outputunit. The encryption unit encrypts the equipment information transmittedby the industrial equipment using a predetermined common key. Thecommunication unit transmits the encrypted equipment informationencrypted by the encryption unit to the maintenance apparatus inresponse to a request therefrom, and transmits the common key used inencrypting the equipment information to the maintenance apparatus thatreceived the encrypted equipment information, in response to a requesttherefrom. The input/output unit outputs all or part of the history oftransmission of the common key from the managing apparatus to themaintenance apparatus. The maintenance apparatus includes acommunication unit, a decryption unit, and an input/output unit. Thecommunication unit receives the encrypted equipment informationtransmitted by the communication unit of the managing apparatus andreceives the common key used in encrypting the encrypted equipmentinformation from the managing apparatus after requesting it therefrom.The decryption unit stores the common key received by the communicationunit of the maintenance apparatus, and decrypts the encrypted equipmentinformation using the stored common key. The input/output unit storesthe equipment information decrypted by the decryption unit, and thenoutputs all or part of the stored equipment information.

Thus, the disclosure of the equipment information stored in each pieceof industrial equipment and the safety of the equipment information canbe centrally managed by the managing apparatus.

The input/output unit of the managing apparatus outputs the encryptedequipment information to a memory medium. The input/output unit of themaintenance apparatus receives the encrypted equipment information fromthe memory medium. Thus, the encrypted equipment information can beinputted to the maintenance apparatus using a desired medium.

The communication unit of the managing apparatus encrypts the common keyusing a public key associated with the maintenance apparatus. Thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus decrypts the common keyreceived from the communication unit of the industrial equipment using asecret key associated with the public key. Thus the common key can besafely transmitted to the maintenance apparatus. Further, thecommunication unit of the managing apparatus carries attributeinformation indicating the attributes of the user of the maintenanceapparatus and condition information indicating conditions about theattributes of the user of the maintenance apparatus that must befollowed when transmitting the common key. When the common key isrequested by the maintenance apparatus, the communication unit of themanaging apparatus reads the user attribute information and thecondition information about the common key, and transmits the common keyto the maintenance apparatus only when the condition in the conditioninformation that has been read is met by the attributes in the attributeinformation that has been read. Thus, the common key can be transmittedexclusively to a particular user of the maintenance apparatus.

The decryption unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limitingthe use of the common key received by the communication unit of themaintenance apparatus, and limits the use of the common key received bythe communication unit of the maintenance apparatus according to thestored rules. Thus, the common key can be safely managed in themaintenance apparatus.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limitingthe use of the equipment information decrypted by the decryption unit ofthe maintenance apparatus, and limits the use of the equipmentinformation decrypted by the decryption unit of the maintenanceapparatus according to the stored rules. Thus, the decrypted equipmentinformation can be safely managed in the maintenance apparatus. Further,as the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs the storedequipment information via animation, the operation of the industrialequipment that cannot be seen with the naked eye can be visuallyanalyzed. The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus can alsooutput the stored equipment information via a timing chart, so that theoperation of the industrial equipment that cannot be seen with the nakedeye can be analyzed from the viewpoint of operational timing. Further,the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus can output the storedequipment data about a plurality of pieces of equipment data to theoutput unit such that the data items are overlaid on a timing chart.This makes it possible to compare the operation of a plurality of piecesof industrial equipment, or the operation of a single piece ofindustrial equipment over different times.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating the contents of the operation carried out by theuser of the maintenance apparatus on the equipment information outputtedby the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus. The communicationunit of the maintenance apparatus transmits the event informationgenerated by the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to themanaging apparatus that transmitted the common key. The communicationunit of the managing apparatus receives the event informationtransmitted by the maintenance apparatus to which the common key hasbeen transmitted. The input/output unit of the managing apparatusoutputs all or part of the event information received by thecommunication unit of the managing apparatus. Thus, the user of themanaging apparatus can recognize the contents of the operation carriedout by the user of the maintenance apparatus on the decrypted equipmentinformation. Further, the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatusgenerates event information indicating that the cause of the trouble hasbeen identified by the user of the maintenance apparatus. This makes itpossible for the user of the managing apparatus to recognize whether ornot the cause of the trouble has been identified as a result ofanalysis.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus receives the groundsbased on which the user of the maintenance apparatus decided that aparticular event is the cause of trouble, and stores the receivedgrounds in the event information. Thus, the user of the managingapparatus can recognize the grounds for the decision on the cause oftrouble. Further, the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatusgenerates event information indicating that the common key stored in thedecryption unit of the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by theuser of the maintenance apparatus. Thus, the user of the managingapparatus can recognize the deletion of the common key that has beentransmitted to the maintenance apparatus. Further, the input/output unitof the maintenance apparatus generates event information indicating thatthe equipment information stored in the input/output unit of themaintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus. The user of the managing apparatus can therefore recognizethe fact that the equipment information decrypted in the maintenanceapparatus has been deleted.

The communication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rulesconcerning the transmission of the event information generated by theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to the managingapparatus, and transmits the event information generated by theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to the managing apparatusaccording to the stored rules. Thus, the rules concerning thetransmission of particular event information can be flexibly changed.Further, the communication unit of the maintenance apparatus storesevent transmission rules concerning the transmission of the eventinformation indicating that the cause of trouble has been identified bythe user of the maintenance apparatus to the managing apparatus thattransmitted the common key. Accordingly, the user of the managingapparatus can recognize whether or not the cause of trouble has beenidentified as a result of analysis. Furthermore, the communication unitof the maintenance apparatus stores event transmission rules concerningthe transmission of the event information indicating the grounds on thebasis of which a particular event has been identified as the cause oftrouble to the managing apparatus from which the common key has beenreceived. Thus, the user of the managing apparatus can recognize thegrounds on which the decision about the cause of trouble is based. Thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules concerning the transmission of event informationindicating that the common key stored in the decryption unit of themaintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus to the managing apparatus that transmitted the common key.This makes it possible for the user of the managing apparatus torecognize the fact that the common key that has been transmitted to themaintenance apparatus has been deleted.

The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules concerning the transmission of the event informationindicating that the equipment information stored in the input/outputunit of the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of themaintenance apparatus to the managing apparatus that transmitted thecommon key. Thus, the user of the managing apparatus can recognize thefact that the equipment information decrypted in the maintenanceapparatus has been deleted.

The maintenance apparatus includes a registration unit in which theinformation identifying the industrial equipment, the encryptedequipment information used in identifying the cause of trouble, and amethod of dealing with the trouble are registered in a mutually relatedmanner. The input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs themethod of dealing with the particular trouble by referring to theregistration unit. Thus, the users of the maintenance apparatus canshare the knowledge about the method of analyzing the cause of trouble.

Hereafter a third embodiment of the invention will be described. FIG. 20shows a block diagram of an on-line diagnostics system for semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment to which the invention is applied. Inthe first embodiment, a plurality of manufacturing factories at whichsemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment is installed and amaintenance center at which a maintenance apparatus is installed areconnected via the Internet. In the first embodiment, the equipmentinformation stored in each piece of the industrial equipment can besafely disclosed to maintenance personnel to the extent permitted by theuser of the industrial equipment. In the third embodiment, amanufacturing factory at which semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment is installed and a plurality of maintenance centers at whichmaintenance apparatus is installed are connected via the Internet. Inthis embodiment, equipment information stored in each piece ofsemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment can be safely disclosedto maintenance personnel assigned to the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment where a trouble took place to theextent permitted by the user of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment.

While the system shown in FIG. 20 includes two maintenance centers 110,there may be more than two maintenance centers in reality. Themaintenance centers 110 may belong to different maintenance vendors, orthey may belong to a single maintenance vendor.

While the system according to this embodiment has added a new functionin the communication unit 131 of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 provided in the manufacturingfactory 120, as will be described below, the other apparatuses aresimilar to those described with reference to the first embodiment.

The communication unit 131 of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 periodically monitors the state of operation of thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123. Upon detection of atrouble, the communication unit 131 selects one or more items ofequipment data to be read from the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 in accordance with a predetermined rule, and reads theselected equipment data. The communication unit 131 generates, withregard to each item of equipment data that has been read, an equipmentdata ID, a common key, and a common-key disclosure condition, andregisters these items of data in a common-key managing table such thatthey are mutually related. The communication unit 131 encrypts each itemof the equipment data that has been read using the generated common key,and generates an equipment data package comprising the generatedequipment data ID, encrypted equipment data, and event transmissionrules. The communication unit 131 also generates a maintenance requestin which the equipment ID of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123, the error code for the particular trouble, and one ormore items of the generated equipment data are stored. The communicationunit 131 also determines, according to predetermined rules, amaintenance center 110 to which the generated maintenance request is tobe transmitted, and transmits the maintenance request to the managingapparatus 112 of the maintenance center 110 that has been determined.

The rules by which the communication unit 131 determines the maintenanceapparatus to which the maintenance request is transmitted may vary. Forexample, some rules may require that information about the quality ofmaintenance work that can be provided by each maintenance apparatus bestored in advance, so that the maintenance apparatus to which themaintenance request is transmitted can be determined based on the storedquality information. Alternatively, some rules may require thatmaintenance apparatus candidates to which the maintenance request istransmitted be selected based on the quality information, so that themaintenance request can be transmitted to the maintenance apparatusselected by the user of the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment.

The maintenance apparatus 113 that received the maintenance request fromthe communication unit 131 stores the maintenance request in a file inan external memory unit designated by the maintenance worker, as whenreceiving a reading operation response, and then displays each equipmentdata package stored in the stored maintenance request.

Hereafter, the structure of the maintenance request transmitted from thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 to the maintenanceapparatus 113 will be described. FIG. 21 shows an example of the datastructure of the maintenance request. A maintenance request 410 is amessage transmitted from the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 to the maintenance apparatus 113 when requestingmaintenance. The message is comprised of an equipment ID 411, an errorcode 412, an equipment data package 413, . . . , and so on. There may bemore than one item in the equipment data package 413.

The equipment ID 411 stores data identifying the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 in which a trouble has beendetected. The error code 412 stores data indicating the nature of thetrouble. The equipment data package 413 stores an equipment data packageused in analyzing the cause of the trouble. To the maintenance requestmay be added the date of detection of trouble, an ID for thesemiconductor manufacturing factory, or the type of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment, for example.

FIG. 22 shows an analysis-state managing table similar to the one shownin FIG. 6, except that amounts of countervalue are added that arecalculated based on the contents of maintenance. The amounts aretransmitted from the managing apparatus 112 of the maintenance center110 to the managing apparatus 122 of the semiconductor manufacturingfactory 120, where the amounts are confirmed and paid.

Each row of the analysis-state managing table 420 is comprised of ananalysis work ID 421, an equipment data ID 422, a recorded date 423, amaintenance personnel type 424, a maintenance personnel ID 425, contents426, and an amount 427. The analysis work ID 421 stores data identifyingthe analysis work. The equipment data ID 422 stores data identifying theequipment data that has been analyzed. The recording date 423 storesdata indicating the date on which the history is recorded. Themaintenance personnel type 424 stores data indicating the type of themaintenance worker who did the analysis work. The maintenance personnelID 425 stores data identifying the analysis worker who did the analysiswork. The contents 426 stores data indicating the contents of ananalysis start notice, an analysis operation, and an analysis completionnotice. The amounts 427 stores the amount of countervalue calculated inaccordance with the contents of analysis.

Hereafter, a process flow concerning the maintenance of thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 shown in FIG. 20 willbe described. FIG. 23 shows a flowchart of the operation that is carriedout when a maintenance request is transmitted from the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123 to the maintenance apparatus 113.The communication unit 131 periodically carries out the processesdescribed in this flowchart, thus periodically monitoring the state ofoperation of the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123.

First, the communication unit 131 determines whether or not a troublehas been detected in the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment123 (steps 431 and 432). If a trouble is detected, the communicationunit selects, in accordance with predetermined rules, equipment data tobe read from the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123(step 433). If no trouble is detected, the process comes to an end (step439).

When a trouble is detected, the communication unit 131 reads one or moreselected items of equipment data (step 434). The communication unit 131then generates, with regard to each item of equipment data that has beenread, an equipment data ID, a common key, and a common-key disclosurecondition, and then registers these items of data in a common-keymanaging table in a mutually related manner (step 435). Thecommunication unit 131 then generates a maintenance request in which theequipment ID for the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123,the error code for the trouble, and one or more generated equipment datapackages are stored (step 436). Thereafter, the communication unit 131determines a maintenance center 110 to which the generated maintenancerequest is to be transmitted, in accordance with predetermined rules(step 437). After the maintenance request is transmitted to the managingapparatus 112 of the maintenance center 110 that has been determined(step 438), the process comes to an end (step 439).

Thus in accordance with the system according to the present embodiment,an on-line diagnostics system comprises one or more pieces of industrialequipment for performing certain processes, and one or more maintenanceapparatus for maintaining the industrial equipment, which are connectedvia the Internet. The industrial equipment includes an encryption unit,a determination unit, a communication unit, and an input/output unit.The encryption unit encrypts the equipment information indicating thestate of the industrial equipment using a specific common key. Thedetermination unit determines the maintenance apparatus to which theequipment information encrypted by the encryption unit is to betransmitted. The communication unit transmits the encrypted equipmentinformation to the maintenance apparatus determined by the determinationunit, and, in response to a request from the maintenance apparatus thatreceived the encrypted equipment information, transmits the common keyused in encrypting the equipment information. The input/output unitoutputs all or part of the history of transmission of the common keyfrom the industrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus. Themaintenance apparatus includes a communication unit, a decryption unit,and an input/output unit. The communication unit receives the encryptedequipment information transmitted by the communication unit of theindustrial equipment, requests the common key from the industrialequipment that has been used in encrypting the equipment information,and receives the common key. The decryption unit stores the common keyreceived by the communication unit of the maintenance apparatus, anddecrypts the encrypted equipment information using the stored commonkey. The input/output unit stores the equipment information decrypted bythe decryption unit, and then outputs all or part of the storedequipment information.

Thus, the equipment information stored in each piece of industrialequipment can be safely disclosed to the maintenance worker dealing withthe industrial equipment where trouble took place, to the extentpermitted by the user of the industrial equipment.

Further, the determination unit of the industrial equipment storesquality information indicating the quality of the maintenance work thatcan be provided by each maintenance apparatus. The determination unitthen determines, based on the stored quality information, one or moremaintenance apparatus to which a maintenance request requestingmaintenance is to be transmitted. The communication unit of theindustrial equipment then transmits the maintenance request and theencrypted equipment information to the maintenance apparatus determinedby the determination unit of the industrial equipment. Thus, it ispossible to request maintenance depending on the quality of maintenancework that can be provided by each maintenance apparatus.

Further, the determination unit of the industrial equipment generates atleast one maintenance apparatus candidate to which a maintenance requestis to be transmitted. The input/output unit of the industrial equipmentthen outputs the candidate(s) generated by the determination unit of theindustrial equipment. The determination unit of the industrial equipmentthen determines the maintenance apparatus selected by the user of theindustrial equipment from among the candidate(s) outputted by theinput/output unit of the industrial equipment, as the maintenanceapparatus to which the maintenance request is to be transmitted. Thus,it is possible to request maintenance flexibly in accordance with thedecision of the user of the industrial equipment.

The invention can be further embodied variously in addition to theabove-described third embodiment. A fourth embodiment is a modificationof the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, the equipmentinformation stored in each item of industrial equipment can be safelydisclosed to the maintenance worker dealing with the industrialequipment where a trouble took place, to the extent permitted by theuser of the industrial equipment. In the fourth embodiment, thedisclosure of the equipment information stored in each piece ofindustrial equipment to the maintenance worker in charge and the safetyof the equipment information can be centrally managed by a managingapparatus. The system according to the present embodiment has added anew function to the managing apparatus 122 provided at the manufacturingfactory 120, as will be described later. However, other apparatus aresimilar to those described with reference to the third embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 19, a communication unit 401 of the managing apparatus122 periodically monitors the state of operation of the semiconductormanufacture/inspection equipment 123. Upon detection of a trouble, thecommunication unit 401 selects, in accordance with predetermined rules,equipment data to be read from the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123, and then transmits a reading operation to thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 for reading theequipment data.

The communication unit 401, upon reception of each reading operationresponse transmitted from the semiconductor manufacture/inspectionequipment 123 in response to the reading operation, generates anequipment data ID, a common key, and a common-key disclosure conditionwith regard to the equipment data stored in the received readingoperation response. The communication unit 401 registers these items ofdata in a common-key managing table in a mutually related manner.

The communication unit 401 encrypts the equipment data stored in thereading operation response using the generated common key. Thecommunication unit 401 then generates an equipment data packagecomprised of the generated equipment data ID, the encrypted equipmentdata, and event transmission rules. The communication unit 401 alsogenerates a maintenance request in which an equipment ID for thesemiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123, an error code forthe trouble, and one or more equipment data packages are stored.

The communication unit 401 also determines an equipment vendor to whichthe generated maintenance request is to be transmitted, and thentransmits the maintenance request to the managing apparatus 112 of thethus determined equipment vendor.

The rules by which the communication unit 401 selects the maintenanceapparatus to which the maintenance request is transmitted may vary. Forexample, some rules may require that information about the quality ofthe maintenance work that can be provided by each maintenance apparatusbe stored in advance, so that the maintenance apparatus to which themaintenance request is transmitted can be determined based on the storedquality information. Alternatively, some rules may require thatmaintenance apparatus candidates to which the maintenance request istransmitted be selected based on the quality information, so that themaintenance request can be transmitted to the maintenance apparatusselected by the user of the managing apparatus from among thecandidates.

The maintenance apparatus 113 that received the maintenance request fromthe communication unit 131 stores the maintenance request in a file inthe external memory unit designated by the maintenance worker, as whenreceiving a reading operation response, and then displays each equipmentdata package stored in the stored maintenance request.

The structure of the maintenance request transmitted from the managingapparatus 122 to the maintenance apparatus 113 is the same as thatdescribed with reference to the third embodiment and, therefore, is notdescribed.

The operation of the managing apparatus 122 when transmitting amaintenance request to the maintenance apparatus 113 is the same as thatof the semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment 123 described withreference to the third embodiment and, therefore, is not described.

Thus, in accordance with the present embodiment, the system comprisesone or more pieces of industrial equipment for carrying out specificprocesses, a managing apparatus for managing information transmittedfrom the industrial equipment, one or more maintenance apparatus formaintaining the industrial equipment and the Internet connecting theseapparatus and equipment. The industrial equipment includes acommunication unit for transmitting the equipment information indicatingthe state of the industrial equipment to the managing apparatus. Themanaging apparatus includes an encryption unit, a determination unit, acommunication unit, and an input/output unit. The encryption unitencrypts the equipment information transmitted by the communication unitof the industrial equipment, using a specific common key. Thedetermination unit determines the maintenance apparatus to which theequipment information encrypted by the encryption unit is transmitted.The communication unit transmits the encrypted equipment information tothe maintenance apparatus determined by the determination unit and, inresponse to a request from the maintenance apparatus that received theencrypted equipment information, transmits the common key used inencrypting the equipment information. The input/output unit outputs allor part of the history of transmission of the common key from themanaging apparatus to the maintenance apparatus. The maintenanceapparatus includes a communication unit, a decryption unit, and aninput/output unit. The communication unit receives the encryptedequipment information transmitted from the communication unit of themanaging apparatus, requests the common key from the managing apparatusthat was used in encrypting the equipment information and receives thecommon key. The decryption unit stores the common key received by thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus, and then decrypts theencrypted equipment information using the stored common key. Theinput/output unit stores the equipment information decrypted by thedecryption unit, and then outputs all or part of the stored equipmentinformation.

Thus, it is possible to centrally manage the disclosure of the equipmentinformation stored in each piece of industrial equipment to themaintenance worker in charge and the safety of the equipment informationby the managing apparatus.

The determination unit of the managing apparatus stores qualityinformation indicating the quality of the maintenance work that can beprovided by each maintenance apparatus, and determines, based on thestored quality information, one or more maintenance apparatus to which amaintenance request is to be transmitted. The communication unit of themanaging apparatus then transmits the maintenance request and theencrypted equipment information to the maintenance apparatus determinedby the determination unit of the managing apparatus. Thus, maintenancecan be requested depending on the attributes of the maintenance workthat can be provided by each maintenance apparatus.

Further, the determination unit of the managing apparatus generates atleast one maintenance apparatus candidate to which a maintenance requestis to be transmitted. The input/output unit of the managing apparatusoutputs the candidate generated by the determination unit of themanaging apparatus. The determination unit of the managing apparatusthen determines the maintenance apparatus selected by the user of themanaging apparatus from among the candidate(s) outputted by theinput/output unit of the managing apparatus, as the maintenanceapparatus to which a maintenance request is to be transmitted. Thus,maintenance can be requested depending on the decision of the user ofthe managing apparatus flexibly.

The features of the individual embodiments of the invention aredescribed below.

(1) An on-line diagnostics system comprising one or more pieces ofindustrial equipment for performing specific processes, and amaintenance apparatus for maintaining the industrial equipment, whichare connected via the Internet, wherein the industrial equipmentcomprises:

an encryption unit for encrypting equipment information indicating thestate of the industrial equipment, using a specific common key;

a communication unit for transmitting the encrypted equipmentinformation encrypted by the encryption unit to the maintenanceapparatus in response to a request therefrom, and transmitting thecommon key used in encrypting the equipment information to themaintenance apparatus that received the encrypted equipment information,in response to a request therefrom; and

an input/output unit for outputting all or part of the history oftransmission of the common key from the industrial equipment to themaintenance apparatus,

the maintenance apparatus comprises:

a communication unit for receiving the encrypted equipment informationtransmitted by the communication unit of the industrial equipment andfor receiving the common key used in encrypting the equipmentinformation from the industrial equipment after requesting it therefrom;

a decryption unit for storing the common key received by thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus and for decrypting theencrypted equipment information using the stored common key; and

an input/output unit for storing the equipment information decrypted bythe decryption unit and for outputting all or part of the storedequipment information.

(2) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein theinput/output unit of the industrial equipment outputs the encryptedequipment information to a memory medium, and wherein the input/outputunit of the maintenance apparatus receives from the memory medium theencrypted equipment information outputted by the input/output unit ofthe industrial equipment.

(3) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein thecommunication unit of the industrial equipment encrypts the common keyusing an public key associated with the maintenance apparatus beforetransmitting it, and wherein the communication unit of the maintenanceapparatus decrypts the common key received from the communication unitof the industrial equipment, using a secret key associated with thepublic key.

(4) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein thecommunication unit of the industrial equipment carries attributeinformation indicating the attributes of the user of the maintenanceapparatus, and condition information indicating a condition concerningthe attributes of the user of the maintenance apparatus that is requiredwhen transmitting the common key, wherein, when the common key isrequested by the maintenance apparatus, the communication unit reads theattribute information about the user and the condition information aboutthe common key, and transmits the common key to the maintenanceapparatus only when the attributes in the attribute information that hasbeen read satisfy the condition in the condition information that hasbeen read.

(5) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein thedecryption unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limiting theoperation on the common key received by the communication unit of themaintenance apparatus, and limits the operation on the common keyreceived by the communication unit of the maintenance apparatusaccording to the stored rules.

(6) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limiting theoperation on the equipment information decrypted by the decryption unitof the maintenance apparatus, and limits the operation on the equipmentinformation decrypted by the decryption unit of the maintenanceapparatus according to the stored rules.

(7) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs the storedequipment information using animation.

(8) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs the storedequipment information using a timing chart.

(9) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs a plurality ofitems of equipment data that has been stored to an output unit such thatthe items of equipment data are overlaid on a timing chart.

(10) The on-line diagnostics system acceding to (1), wherein

the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating the contents of operation carried out by the userof the maintenance apparatus on the equipment information outputted bythe input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus,

the communication unit of the maintenance apparatus transmits the eventinformation generated by the input/output unit of the maintenanceapparatus to the industrial equipment that transmitted the common key,

the communication unit of the industrial equipment receives the eventinformation transmitted by the maintenance apparatus to which the commonkey has been transmitted, and

the input/output unit of the industrial equipment outputs all or part ofthe event information received by the communication unit of theindustrial equipment.

(11) The on-line diagnostics system according to (10), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the cause of trouble has been identified bythe user of the maintenance apparatus.

(12) The on-line diagnostics system according to (11), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus receives the groundsbased on which the user of the maintenance apparatus has decided that aparticular event is the cause of trouble, and stores the receivedgrounds in the event information.

(13) The on-line diagnostics system according to (11), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the common key stored in the decryption unitof the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of themaintenance apparatus.

(14) The on-line diagnostics system according to (11), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the equipment information stored in theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by theuser of the maintenance apparatus.

(15) The on-line diagnostics system according to (10), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules for the transmission of the event informationgenerated by the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus to theindustrial equipment, and limits the transmission of the eventinformation generated by the input/output unit of the maintenanceapparatus to the industrial equipment according to the stored rules.

(16) The on-line diagnostics system according to (15), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules by which the event information indicating theidentification of the cause of trouble by the user of the maintenanceapparatus is transmitted to the industrial equipment that transmittedthe common key.

(17) The on-line diagnostics system according to (16), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules by which the event information indicating the groundsbased on which a particular event has been determined to be the cause oftrouble is transmitted to the industrial equipment that transmitted thecommon key.

(18) The on-line diagnostics system according to (15), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules by which event information indicating that the commonkey stored in the decryption unit of the maintenance apparatus has beendeleted by the user of the maintenance apparatus is transmitted to theindustrial equipment that transmitted the common key.

(19) The on-line diagnostics system according to (15), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores event transmissionrules by which event information indicating that the equipmentinformation stored in the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatushas been deleted by the user of the maintenance apparatus is transmittedto the industrial equipment that transmitted the common key.

(20) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein themaintenance apparatus comprises a registration unit for registeringinformation identifying the industrial equipment, the encryptedequipment information used in identifying the cause of trouble, and amethod of dealing with the trouble in a mutually related manner, andwherein the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs amethod of dealing with a particular trouble by referring to theregistration unit.

(21) The on-line diagnostics system according to (1), wherein theindustrial equipment is semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.

(22) Industrial equipment adapted to be maintained remotely by amaintenance apparatus connected via the Internet, comprising:

an encryption unit for encrypting equipment information indicating thestate of the industrial equipment using a particular common key;

a communication unit for transmitting the encrypted equipmentinformation encrypted by the encryption unit to the maintenanceapparatus in response to a request therefrom, and for transmitting thecommon key used in encrypting the equipment information in response to arequest from the maintenance apparatus that received the encryptedequipment information; and

an input/output unit for outputting all or part of the history oftransmission of the common key from the industrial equipment to themaintenance apparatus.

(23) The industrial equipment according to (22), wherein theinput/output unit outputs the encrypted equipment information to amemory medium before it is received by the maintenance apparatus.

(24) The industrial equipment according to (22), wherein thecommunication unit encrypts the common key using a public key associatedwith the maintenance apparatus before transmitting it.

(25) The industrial equipment according to (22), wherein thecommunication unit carries attribute information indicating theattributes of a user of the maintenance apparatus, and conditioninformation indicating a condition about the attributes of the user ofthe maintenance apparatus which is required in transmitting the commonkey, wherein, when the common key is requested by the maintenanceapparatus, the communication unit reads the user's attribute informationand the condition information about the common key and transmits thecommon key to the maintenance apparatus only when the condition in thecondition information that has been read is satisfied by the attributesin the attribute information that has been read.

(26) The industrial equipment according to (22), wherein thecommunication unit receives event information indicating the contents ofoperation performed by the user of the maintenance apparatus on theequipment information from the maintenance apparatus to which the commonkey has been transmitted, and wherein the input/output unit outputs allor part of the event information received by the communication unit.

(27) The on-line diagnostics system according to (26), wherein thecommunication unit receives event information indicating that the causeof trouble has been identified by the user of the maintenance apparatus.

(28) The on-line diagnostics system according to (27), wherein thecommunication unit receives event information indicating the groundsbased on which the user of the maintenance apparatus has determined aparticular event to be the cause of trouble.

(29) The industrial equipment according to (26), wherein thecommunication unit receives event information indicating that the commonkey stored in the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user ofthe maintenance apparatus.

(30) The industrial equipment according to (26), wherein thecommunication unit receives event information indicating that theequipment information stored in the maintenance apparatus has beendeleted by the user of the maintenance apparatus.

(31) A maintenance apparatus for remotely maintaining industrialequipment connected via the Internet, comprising:

a communication unit for receiving encrypted equipment informationindicating the state of the industrial equipment and encrypted by aspecific common key from the industrial equipment, and for receiving thecommon key used in encrypting the encrypted equipment information fromthe industrial equipment after requesting it therefrom;

a decryption unit for storing the common key received by thecommunication unit, and for decrypting the encrypted equipmentinformation using the stored common key; and

an input/output unit for storing the equipment information decrypted bythe decryption unit, and for outputting all or part of the storedequipment information.

(32) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit receives from a memory medium the encrypted equipmentinformation outputted by the industrial equipment.

(33) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein thecommunication unit decrypts the common key received from the industrialequipment, using a secret key associated with the maintenance apparatus.

(34) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein the decryptionunit stores rules limiting the operation on the common key received bythe communication unit, and limits the operation on the common keyreceived by the communication unit according to the stored rules.

(35) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit stores rules limiting the operation on the equipmentinformation decrypted by the decryption unit, and limits the operationon the equipment information decrypted by the decryption unit accordingto the stored rules.

(36) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit outputs the stored equipment information usinganimation.

(37) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit outputs the stored equipment information using atiming chart.

(38) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit outputs to the output unit a plurality of items ofstored equipment data such that they are overlaid on a timing chart.

(39) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit generates event information indicating the contents ofoperation performed by the user of the maintenance apparatus on theequipment information outputted by the input/output unit, and whereinthe communication unit transmits the event information generated by theinput/output unit to the industrial equipment that transmitted thecommon key.

(40) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit generates event information indicating that the causeof trouble has been identified by the user of the maintenance apparatus.

(41) The maintenance apparatus according to (40), wherein theinput/output unit receives the grounds based on which the user of themaintenance apparatus has determined a particular event to be the causeof trouble, and stores the grounds in the event information.

(42) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit generates event information indicating that the commonkey stored in the decryption unit of the maintenance apparatus has beendeleted by the user of the maintenance apparatus.

(43) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein theinput/output unit generates event information indicating that theequipment information stored in the input/output unit of the maintenanceapparatus has been deleted by the user of the maintenance apparatus.

(44) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), wherein thecommunication unit stores rules for the transmission of the eventinformation generated by the input/output unit to the industrialequipment, and transmits the event information generated by theinput/output unit to the industrial equipment according to the storedrules.

(45) The maintenance apparatus according to (44), wherein thecommunication unit stores event transmission rules by which eventinformation indicating that the cause of trouble has been identified bythe user of the maintenance apparatus is transmitted to the industrialequipment that transmitted the common key.

(46) The maintenance apparatus according to (45), wherein thecommunication unit stores event transmission rules concerning thetransmission of event information indicating the grounds based on whicha particular event has been determined to be the cause of trouble to theindustrial equipment that transmitted the common key.

(47) The maintenance apparatus according to (45), wherein thecommunication unit stores event transmission rules concerning thetransmission of event information indicating that the common key storedin the decryption unit has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus to the industrial equipment that transmitted the common key.

(48) The maintenance apparatus according to (45), wherein theinput/output unit stores event transmission rules by which eventinformation indicating that the equipment information stored in theinput/output unit has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus is transmitted to the industrial equipment that transmittedthe common key.

(49) The maintenance apparatus according to (31), further comprising aregistration unit in which information identifying the industrialequipment, the encrypted equipment information used in identifying thecause of trouble, and a method of dealing with trouble are stored in amutually related manner, wherein the input/output unit outputs a methodof dealing with the trouble by referring to the registration unit.

(50) An on-line diagnostics system comprising one or more pieces ofindustrial equipment for performing specific processes, a managingapparatus for managing information transmitted from the industrialequipment, and a maintenance apparatus for the maintenance of theindustrial equipment, which are connected via the Internet, wherein

the industrial equipment comprises a communication unit for transmittingequipment information indicating the state of the industrial equipmentto the managing apparatus,

the managing apparatus comprises an encryption unit for encrypting theequipment information transmitted from the industrial equipment, using aspecific common key, a communication unit for transmitting the encryptedequipment information encrypted by the encryption unit to themaintenance apparatus in response to a request therefrom, and fortransmitting the common key used in encrypting the encrypted equipmentinformation in response to a request from the maintenance apparatus thatreceived the encrypted equipment information, and an input/output unitfor outputting all or part of the history of transmission of the commonkey from the managing apparatus to the maintenance apparatus, and

the maintenance apparatus comprises a communication unit for receivingthe encrypted equipment information transmitted by the communicationunit of the managing apparatus, and for receiving the common key used inencrypting the encrypted equipment information from the managingapparatus after requesting it therefrom, a decryption unit for storingthe common key received by the communication unit of the maintenanceapparatus and for decrypting the encrypted equipment information usingthe stored common key, and an input/output unit for storing theequipment information decrypted by the decryption unit and foroutputting all or part of the stored equipment information.

(51) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theinput/output unit of the managing apparatus outputs the encryptedequipment information to a memory medium, and the input/output unit ofthe maintenance apparatus receives from the memory medium the encryptedequipment information outputted by the input/output unit of the managingapparatus.

(52) The one-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein thecommunication unit of the managing apparatus encrypts the common keyusing a public key associated with the maintenance apparatus beforetransmitting it, and the communication unit of the maintenance apparatusdecrypts the common key received from the communication unit of theindustrial equipment, using a secret key associated with the public key.

(53) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein thecommunication unit of the managing apparatus carries attributeinformation indicating the attributes of a user of the maintenanceapparatus, and condition information indicating a condition concerningthe attributes of the user of the maintenance apparatus which isnecessary for the transmission of the common key, wherein, when thecommon key is requested by the maintenance apparatus, the communicationunit reads the user's attribute information and the conditioninformation about the common key, and transmits the common key to themaintenance apparatus only when the condition in the conditioninformation that has been read is satisfied by the attributes in theattribute information that has been read.

(54) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein thedecryption unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limiting theoperation on the common key received by the communication unit of themaintenance apparatus, and limits the operation on the common keyreceived by the communication unit of the maintenance apparatusaccording to the stored rules.

(55) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules limiting theoperation on the equipment information decrypted by the decryption unitof the maintenance apparatus, and limits the operation on the equipmentinformation decrypted by the decryption unit of the maintenanceapparatus according to the stored rules.

(56) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs the storedequipment information using animation.

(57) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs the storedequipment information using a timing chart.

(58) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs a plurality ofitems of stored equipment data to the output unit such that they areoverlaid on a timing chart.

(59) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating the contents of the operation performed by theuser of the maintenance apparatus on the equipment information outputtedby the input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus,

the communication unit of the maintenance apparatus transmits the eventinformation generated by the input/output unit of the maintenanceapparatus to the managing apparatus that transmitted the common key, and

the communication unit of the managing apparatus receives the eventinformation transmitted by the maintenance apparatus to which the commonkey has been transmitted, and

the input/output unit of the managing apparatus outputs all or part ofthe event information received by the communication unit of the managingapparatus.

(60) The on-line diagnostics system according to (59), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the cause of trouble has been identified bythe user of the maintenance apparatus.

(61) The on-line diagnostics system according to (59), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus receives the groundsbased on which the user of the maintenance apparatus has determined aparticular event to be the cause of trouble, and stores the receivedgrounds in the event information.

(62) The on-line diagnostics system according to (59), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the common key stored in the decryption unitof the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of themaintenance apparatus.

(63) The on-line diagnostics system according to (59), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus generates eventinformation indicating that the equipment information stored in theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by theuser of the maintenance apparatus.

(64) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores rules regardingthe transmission of the event information generated by the input/outputunit of the maintenance apparatus to the managing apparatus, andtransmits the event information generated by the input/output unit ofthe maintenance apparatus to the managing apparatus in accordance withthe stored rules.

(65) The on-line diagnostics system according to (64), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules regarding the transmission of event informationindicating that the cause of trouble has been identified by the user ofthe maintenance apparatus to the managing apparatus that transmitted thecommon key.

(66) The on-line diagnostics system according to (64), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules regarding the transmission of event informationindicating the grounds based on which the a particular event has beendetermined to be the cause of trouble to the managing apparatus thattransmitted the common key.

(67) The on-line diagnostics system according to (64), wherein thecommunication unit of the maintenance apparatus stores eventtransmission rules regarding the transmission of event informationindicating that the common key stored in the decryption unit of themaintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus to the managing apparatus that transmitted the common key.

(68) The on-line diagnostics system according to (64), wherein theinput/output unit of the maintenance apparatus stores event transmissionrules regarding the transmission of event information indicating thatthe equipment information stored in the input/output unit of themaintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of the maintenanceapparatus to the managing apparatus that transmitted the common key.

(69) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein themaintenance apparatus comprises a registration unit for registeringinformation identifying the industrial equipment, the encryptedequipment information used in identifying the cause of trouble, and amethod of dealing with trouble in a mutually related manner, and whereinthe input/output unit of the maintenance apparatus outputs a method ofdealing with trouble by referring to the registration unit.

(70) The on-line diagnostics system according to (50), wherein theindustrial equipment is semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.

(71) A managing apparatus for managing information transmitted from oneor more pieces of industrial equipment for performing specificprocesses, comprising:

an encryption unit for encrypting equipment information indicating thestate of the industrial equipment using a specific common key;

a communication unit for transmitting the encrypted equipmentinformation encrypted by the encryption unit to a maintenance apparatusconnected via the Internet in response to a request therefrom, and fortransmitting the common key used in encrypting the encrypted equipmentinformation in response to a request from the maintenance apparatus thatreceived the encrypted equipment information; and

an input/output unit for outputting all or part of the history oftransmission of the common key to the maintenance apparatus.

(72) The managing apparatus according to (71), wherein the input/outputunit outputs to a memory medium the encrypted equipment information tobe received by the maintenance apparatus.

(73) The managing apparatus according to (71), wherein the communicationunit encrypts the common key using a public key associated with themaintenance apparatus before transmitting it.

(74) The managing apparatus according to (71), wherein the communicationunit carries attribute information indicating the attributes of a userof the maintenance apparatus, and condition information indicating acondition concerning the attributes of the user of the maintenanceapparatus which is necessary for the transmission of the common key,wherein, when the common key is requested by the maintenance apparatus,the communication unit reads the attribute information about the user ofthe maintenance apparatus and the condition information about the commonkey, and transmits the common key to the maintenance apparatus only whenthe condition in the condition information that has been read issatisfied by the attributes in the attribute information that has beenread.

(75) The managing apparatus according to (71), wherein the communicationunit receives event information from the maintenance apparatus to whichthe common key has been transmitted, the event information indicatingthe contents of operation performed by the user of the maintenanceapparatus on the equipment information, and the input/output unitoutputs all or part of the event information received by thecommunication unit.

(76) The managing apparatus according to (75), wherein the communicationunit receives event information indicating that the cause of trouble hasbeen identified by the user of the maintenance apparatus.

(77) The managing apparatus according to (75), wherein the communicationunit receives event information indicating the grounds based on whichthe user of the maintenance apparatus has determined a particular eventto be the cause of trouble.

(78) The managing apparatus according to (75), wherein the communicationunit receives event information indicating that the common key stored inthe maintenance apparatus has been deleted by the user of themaintenance apparatus.

(79) The managing apparatus according to (75), wherein the communicationunit receives event information indicating that the equipmentinformation stored in the maintenance apparatus has been deleted by theuser of the maintenance apparatus.

(80) An on-line diagnostics system comprising one or more pieces ofindustrial equipment for performing specific processes, and one or moremaintenance apparatus for the maintenance of the industrial equipment,which are connected via the Internet, wherein:

the industrial equipment comprises an encryption unit for encryptingequipment information indicating the state of the industrial equipmentusing a specific common key, a determination unit for determining amaintenance apparatus to which the encrypted equipment informationencrypted by the encryption unit is to be transmitted, a communicationunit for transmitting the encrypted equipment information encrypted bythe encryption unit to the maintenance apparatus determined by thedetermination unit, and for transmitting the common key used inencrypting the encrypted equipment information in response to a requestfrom the maintenance apparatus that received the encrypted equipmentinformation, and an input/output unit for outputting all or part of thehistory of transmission of the common key from the industrial equipmentto the maintenance apparatus, and wherein

the maintenance apparatus comprises a communication unit for receivingthe encrypted equipment information transmitted by the communicationunit of the industrial equipment, and for receiving the common key usedin encrypting the encrypted equipment information from the industrialequipment after requesting it therefrom, a decryption unit for storingthe common key received by the communication unit of the maintenanceapparatus and for decrypting the encrypted equipment information usingthe stored common key, and an input/output unit for storing theequipment information decrypted by the decryption unit and foroutputting all or part of the stored equipment information.

(81) The on-line diagnostics system according to (80), wherein thedetermination unit of the industrial equipment stores qualityinformation indicating the quality of maintenance work that can beprovided by each maintenance apparatus, and determines one or moremaintenance apparatus to which a maintenance request requestingmaintenance is to be transmitted, based on the stored qualityinformation, and wherein the communication unit of the industrialequipment transmits a maintenance request and the encrypted equipmentinformation to the maintenance apparatus determined by the determinationunit of the industrial equipment.

(82) The on-line diagnostics system according to (80), wherein thedetermination unit of the industrial equipment generates at least onemaintenance apparatus candidate to which a maintenance request is to betransmitted, the input/output unit of the industrial equipment outputsthe candidate(s) generated by the determination unit of the industrialequipment, wherein the determination unit of the industrial equipmentdetermines the maintenance apparatus selected by the user of theindustrial equipment from among the candidate(s) outputted by theinput/output unit of the industrial equipment, as the maintenanceapparatus to which the maintenance request is transmitted.

(83) The on-line diagnostics system according to (80), wherein theindustrial equipment is semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.

(84) Industrial equipment remotely maintained by one or more maintenanceapparatus connected via the Internet, comprising:

an encryption unit for encrypting equipment information indicating thestate of the industrial equipment using a specific common key;

a determination unit for determining the maintenance apparatus to whichthe encrypted equipment information encrypted by the encryption unit isto be transmitted;

a communication unit for transmitting the encrypted equipmentinformation encrypted by the encryption unit to the maintenanceapparatus determined by the determination unit, and for transmitting thecommon key used in encrypting the encrypted equipment information inresponse to a request from the maintenance apparatus that received theencrypted equipment information, and

an input/output unit for outputting all or part of the history oftransmission of the common key from the industrial equipment to themaintenance apparatus.

(85) The industrial equipment according to (84), wherein thedetermination unit stores quality information indicating the quality ofmaintenance work that can be provided by each maintenance apparatus,determines one or more maintenance apparatus to which a maintenancerequest requesting maintenance is to be transmitted, based on thequality information received by the communication unit of the industrialequipment, wherein the communication unit transmits a maintenancerequest and the encrypted equipment information to the maintenanceapparatus determined by the determination unit of the industrialequipment.

(86) The industrial equipment according to (84), wherein thedetermination unit generates at least one maintenance apparatuscandidate to which a maintenance request is to be transmitted, theinput/output unit of the industrial equipment outputs the candidate(s)generated by the determination unit, and the determination unitdetermines the maintenance apparatus selected by the user of theindustrial equipment from among the candidate(s) outputted by theinput/output unit as the maintenance apparatus to which a maintenancerequest is transmitted.

(87) An on-line diagnostics system comprising one or more pieces ofindustrial equipment for performing specific processes, a managingapparatus for managing information transmitted from the industrialequipment, and one or more maintenance apparatus for the maintenance ofthe industrial equipment, which are connected via the Internet, wherein

the industrial equipment comprises a communication unit for transmittingequipment information indicating the state of the industrial equipmentto the managing apparatus,

the managing apparatus comprises an encryption unit for encrypting theequipment information transmitted by the communication unit of theindustrial equipment, using a specific common key, a determination unitfor determining the maintenance apparatus to which the encryptedequipment information encrypted by the encryption unit is to betransmitted, a communication unit for transmitting the encryptedequipment information encrypted by the encryption unit to themaintenance apparatus determined by the determination unit, and fortransmitting the common key used in encrypting the encrypted equipmentinformation in response to a request from the maintenance apparatus thatreceived the encrypted equipment information, and an input/output unitfor outputting all or part of the history of transmission of the commonkey from the managing apparatus to the maintenance apparatus, and

the maintenance apparatus comprises a communication unit for receivingthe encrypted equipment information transmitted by the communicationunit of the managing apparatus, and for receiving the common key used inencrypting the encrypted equipment information from the managingapparatus after requesting it therefrom, a decryption unit for storingthe common key received by the communication unit of the maintenanceapparatus and for decrypting the encrypted equipment information usingthe stored common key, and an input/output unit for storing theequipment information decrypted by the decryption unit and foroutputting all or part of the stored equipment information.

(88) The on-line diagnostics system according to (87), wherein thedetermination unit of the managing apparatus stores quality informationindicating the quality of maintenance work that can be provided by eachmaintenance apparatus, and determines, based on the stored qualityinformation, one or more maintenance apparatus to which a maintenancerequest requesting maintenance is to be transmitted, and wherein thecommunication unit of the managing apparatus transmits a maintenancerequest and the encrypted equipment information to the maintenanceapparatus determined by the determination unit of the managingapparatus.

(89) The on-line diagnostics system according to (87), wherein thedetermination unit of the managing apparatus generates at least onemaintenance apparatus candidate to which a maintenance request is to betransmitted, the input/output unit of the managing apparatus outputs thecandidate(s) generated by the determination unit of the managingapparatus, and the determination unit of the managing apparatusdetermines the maintenance apparatus selected by the user of themanaging apparatus from among the candidate(s) outputted by theinput/output unit of the managing apparatus as the maintenance apparatusto which a maintenance request is transmitted.

(90) The on-line diagnostics system according to (87), wherein theindustrial equipment is semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.

(91) A managing apparatus for managing information transmitted from oneor more pieces of industrial equipment for performing specificprocesses, comprising:

an encryption unit for encrypting equipment information received fromthe industrial equipment using a specific common key;

a determination unit for determining a maintenance apparatus to whichthe encrypted equipment information encrypted by the encryption unit isto be transmitted;

a communication unit for transmitting the encrypted equipmentinformation encrypted by the encryption unit to the maintenanceapparatus determined by the determination unit, and for transmitting thecommon key used in encrypting the encrypted equipment information to themaintenance apparatus that received the encrypted equipment information,in response to a request therefrom; and

an input/output unit for outputting all or part of the history oftransmission of the common key from the communication unit to themaintenance apparatus.

(92) The managing apparatus according to (91), wherein the determinationunit stores quality information indicating the quality of maintenancework that can be provided by each maintenance apparatus, and determines,based on the stored quality information, one or more maintenanceapparatus to which a maintenance request requesting maintenance is to betransmitted, and wherein the communication unit transmits a maintenancerequest and the encrypted equipment information to the maintenanceapparatus determined by the determination unit.

(93) The managing apparatus according to (91), wherein the determinationunit generates at least one maintenance apparatus candidate to which amaintenance request is to be transmitted, the input/output unit outputsthe candidate(s) generated by the determination unit of the managingapparatus, and the determination unit determines the maintenanceapparatus selected by the user of the managing apparatus from among thecandidate(s) outputted by the input/output unit as the maintenanceapparatus to which a maintenance request is to be transmitted.

Thus, in accordance with the invention, equipment information stored ineach piece of industrial equipment can be safely disclosed tomaintenance personnel to the extent permitted by the user of theindustrial equipment.

1. An on-line diagnostics method for the maintenance of industrialequipment by a maintenance apparatus, the maintenance apparatus beingconnected via the Internet to the industrial equipment, the methodcomprising the steps of: when a trouble takes place in the industrialequipment, encrypting the ID of the industrial equipment and the errorcode of the trouble using a common key by the industrial equipment togenerate a maintenance request message including the encrypted ID of theindustrial equipment and the error code of the trouble, and transmittingit from the industrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus, when themaintenance apparatus receives a maintenance request message from theindustrial equipment, transmitting an analysis start notice messageincluding an equipment data ID of the object of analysis from themaintenance apparatus to the industrial equipment, when the industrialequipment receives an analysis start notice message from the maintenanceapparatus, transmitting an analysis start notice response messageincluding the common key from the industrial equipment to themaintenance apparatus, when the maintenance apparatus receives ananalysis start notice response message from the industrial equipment,decrypting the encrypted equipment data ID in the maintenance requestmessage using the common key by the maintenance apparatus to generate amaintenance operation message including a program ID and parameters,based on the cause of trouble which is obtained by the analysis based onthe decrypted equipment data ID and transmitting it from the maintenanceapparatus to the industrial equipment, when the industrial equipmentreceives a maintenance operation message from the maintenance apparatus,executing the program using the parameters by the industrial equipment,encrypting the equipment data obtained from the result of the executionof the program by the industrial equipment, and transmitting amaintenance operation response message including the encrypted equipmentdata from the industrial equipment to the maintenance apparatus.
 2. Theon-line diagnostics method according to claim 1, wherein the industrialequipment is semiconductor manufacture/inspection equipment.
 3. Theon-line diagnostics method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein acountervalue for the contents of maintenance carried out by themaintenance apparatus on the industrial equipment based on the equipmentinformation is calculated and transmitted.